Going into the game, Greece and Nigeria, both without a point, knew that Argentina had six points and South Korea had three. A draw here and Argentina would qualify for the Second Round by default; a defeat for Greece and the Europeans would be going home.

Typically, Greece - who were yet to score a World Cup Finals goal - started with five at the back and waited for Nigeria to come at them. The West Africans didn't disappoint when Kalu Uche became the first player to score a direct free-kick in South Africa, fifteen minutes into the game.

Vasilis Torosidis, who had already gone down once in a challenge, dropped like a ton of bricks when Sani Kaita needlessly kicked out in frustration as the Greek shielded the ball out of play.

Sani Kaita then hid his head in the green shirt of Nigeria, once he was shown the inevitable red card.

With Nigeria down to ten men, Otto Rehhagel made an attacking substitution; bringing on Giorgos Samaras for Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Then, just before half-time, fortune struck again for Greece; as Kostas Katsouranis laid the ball into the path of Dimitrios Salpingidis. The Panathinaikos striker's shot deflected off Lukman 'Luckless' Haruna and up over Vincent Enyeama, who played so well against Argentina.

Half-time: 1:1

Kalu Uche, the scorer of the first goal, forced Alexandros Tzorvas to tip the ball over his bar at the start of the second-half; as Nigeria showed they were not content to just sit back and hold on to the draw.

Then, on the next break, Taye Taiwo suffered what looked like a groin injury and momentarily left Nigeria with nine men on the pitch.

On the hour, Nigeria were powering forward again; Tzorvas getting his left palm to Yakubu's drive from close range.

With the extra man eventually proving to much to deal with, Vasilis Torosidis - the player who was involved in the sending-off incident - was first to pounce when Vincent Enyeama had a Robert Green moment, 20 minutes from time.

Shortly after, Yakubu gave Greece another scare; Nigeria not prepared to lie down and roll over until the final whistle.

Greece, lucky to play against ten men, were also lucky with both goals. But it's a win, their first at a World Cup Finals, and Nigeria have it all to do against South Korea.

Greece 2 Nigeria 1

If your captain is taken off at half-time then you know that something's not working right. That was the tragedy for Greece.

After their surprise victory at Euro 2004, Greece have failed to deliver and they didn't disappoint us in Port Elizabeth.

Right from the start, it was South Korea who looked the more energetic.

From a South Korea free-kick, near the left corner-flag, an unmarked Lee Jung-Soo ran towards the far post and side-footed the ball into the empty half of the Greece goal; with just seven minutes played.

Eight minutes later, Lee Chung-Yong had a penalty claim turned down as South Korea continued to make most of the early running.

South Korea should have been three goals up in the 28th minute, when Park Ji-Sung's pass to perfection caught the Greek defenders flat-footed again and Monaco's Park Chu-Young with a free run through on goal.

Greece went into the dressing room still in with a chance when in reality they weren't really in the game at all.

Half-time: 1:0

Christos Patsatzoglou replaced Giorgos Karagounis, the Greece captain, at the start of the second-half.

The substitution didn't do much to change the balance of play as South Korea soon doubled their lead; Park Ji-Sung running clean through the middle, shaking off Avraam Papadopoulos and Loukas Vyntra to slip the ball across Alexandros Tzorvas.

After Greece changed their attacking options, around the hour mark, Park Chu-Young was presented with a golden opportunity when Cha Du-Ri's ball landed on his head.

Then, with ten minutes left on the clock, Theofanis Gekas checked to see if the South Korea goalkeeper was awake; with a rising shot from the middle of the penalty area.

That was about it from Greece.

South Korea 2 Greece 0