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The Super Eagles
head into today’s game against Greece, aware that defeat in
Bloemfontein will almost certainly spell the end of their World Cup
dreams after their damaging opening defeat at the hands of Argentina.

The Super Eagles
went down 1-0 to the Argentines last Saturday in Johannesburg, the same
day the Greeks fell 2-0 to South Korea, which also leaves the Greeks in
a desperate need of points to keep their tournament hope alive.

Super Eagles’
striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, believes the solution to overcoming their
opponents lies in an offensive approach to the game.

“We have to attack with panache and at the same time, defend with resolution. There will be no mercy,” he said.

The Everton forward put in a hardworking display against the Argentines and speaking to Fifa.com, said:

“We didn’t play
many warm-up games before we got here, but we got better in each one
and our rhythm has gotten better and better. If we keep the same spirit
and mentality, we can go through to the next round at least.”

Possible changes

Coach Lars
Lagerback hinted at possible changes from the team that started against
Argentina at Ellis Park, but he kept all firmly to his chest as he
addressed the post-training press conference on Wednesday. But Osaze
Odemwingie may likely take the place of Chinedu Obasi, while Obafemi
Martins may take the place of Obinna Nsofor, after coming on as a
substitute against Argentina.

The Greeks, under
Otto Rehhagel, are a pragmatic side and have been known to play as many
as five defenders if necessary in a game. But the German-born coach may
likely start with a 4-3-3 formation today and is expected to recall
centre-back, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, to the starting line-up after he left
the Liverpool defender out of the game against the Koreans.

When the Super Eagles step onto the
pitch later today, for their match against Greece, they will be firing
on all cylinders, aware of the fact that only a win will give them a
realistic chance of advancing to the knockout rounds of the World Cup.

Not even a draw will do, so they must
go for a win; something they have not been able to achieve since their
1-0 defeat of Bulgaria back in 1998.

“The match against Greece is so
important now because we simply have to pick up three points. We’re
still in with a good chance,” said Wolfsburg forward, Obafemi Martins,
who was used as a second-half substitute in the 1-0 loss to Argentina.

The loss to Argentina extended
Nigeria’s winless streak in the World Cup to six games, but the former
African champions side still have a realistic chance of qualifying for
the round of 16.

“Even though we lost the game to
Argentina, I believe the boys can bounce back with the next two games,”
said former Nigeria international, Sam Okpodu.

“We played very conservatively against
Argentina and waited for opportunities to counter attack. Either way,
Argentina should have won by a bigger margin,” he added.

Final chance

Indeed, the Argentines ought to have
won by a much more comfortable score line but the Super Eagles also had
opportunities to punish the South Americans, but wasted these chances.

They are now confronted with their last
chance to show they are not in South Africa to make up the numbers, and
will need to show a better attitude and confidence than they displayed
in their loss to Argentina, if they must get the three points from
today’s encounter.

“We created a few chances against
Argentina, but we could have created more,” said England-based coach,
Chukwuma Akuneto. “The Argentine defenders were clearly lacking in
pace, but (Obafemi ) Martins and (Osaze) Odemwingie were only brought
in after the break.

“I expect both of them to start this
time around because the Greeks also lack pace in their defence. This is
something we need to exploit, but we can’t afford to be wasteful this
time around because chances may be few against the Greek,” he said.

The introduction of Martins and
Odemwingie added more bite to the Eagles’ attack as they were able to
carve open the Argentine defence on a few occasions; Diego Maradona was
forced to pull out Angel Di Maria, a forward, and replaced him with
Nicolas Burdisso, a defender.

Greek coach, Otto Rehhagel, is renowned
for his defensive tactics and it won’t come as a surprise to many if
the German decides to play as many as five in the defence, even though
his side needs a win.

But the Greeks have never scored or won a game at the World Cup, and
they will be against a country that defeated them back at the 1994
World Cup. That was the year the Super Eagles made it to the round of
16, which they repeated four years later in France. But they failed to
reach the knockout rounds in 2002 and nothing less than a spot in the
next round will satisfy their fans.

Neither the globe’s
most expensive soccer player, nor one of its most prolific marksmen
were able on Tuesday to remedy a worrying shortage of goals at Africa’s
first World Cup.

Both 80 million
pounds striker Cristiano Ronaldo, and goal machine Didier Drogba drew
blanks when Portugal and Ivory Coast played out a goalless Group G
encounter to add to the paucity of goals in South Africa so far. After
13 matches the net has bulged just 20 times, an average of 1.54 per
game, way below the 2.30 average for the whole of Germany 2006 and
higher figures in previous years. Portugal’s Ronaldo came closest when
he hit the post in Port Elizabeth with a thundering long range shot,
and Drogba came on as a second half substitute for the Ivory Coast
despite a fractured arm.

The day’s earlier
match produced only two goals when Slovakia and New Zealand drew 1-1 in
a Group F game. That clash of the outsiders in Rustenburg gave each
their first points in a World Cup as cold temperatures and pouring rain
hit the only winter edition of the tournament since 1978, even
extending to the tropical port of Durban.

Exceptional Germans

Only the German
side has shown real World Cup class so far with a 4-0 drubbing of
Australia on Sunday that will have surely struck fear into their big
name rivals. While South Africans continue to exude pride and
excitement at hosting the tournament, there was tragic news from
elsewhere on the continent. Residents of anarchic Somalia said Islamic
militants had killed two people and arrested 35 for breaking their
strict ban on watching the tournament on television.

Fairly Peaceful

While this
tournament has largely been problem free and filled with joy despite
the lack of goals, about 2,000 stadium stewards in Durban who clashed
with riot police in a protest over wages early on Monday were paid off
on Tuesday. Police said they were taking over security at Durban,
Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth stadiums because of the
dispute.

Dispute hasn’t been
restricted to labour issues, however, and controversy is growing among
players and coaches over the World Cup’s new ball, called the Jabulani.
Crosses, free-kicks and long-range shots have been skying over their
targets in the thin air. Another issue is the incessant whine of the
vuvuzelas with teams now experimenting with sign language, especially
when goalkeepers are trying to organise a defensive wall.

But the plastic trumpet clearly has some fans. An iPhone application
that copies the drone that has been compared to a swarm of giant bees
has been downloaded more than a million times. Even though the
application was designed in the Netherlands, this is unlikely to please
Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk, the tournament’s chief curmudgeon and
most vociferous critic of the South African instrument.

South Korean
players believe they have a chance of victory in Thursday’s game
against Argentina, with Manchester United midfielder, Park Ji-Sung,
insisting they are capable of causing an upset against the South
Americans.

Park, who was the
man-of-the-match against the Greeks, said his side have nothing to fear
if they can play with the same intensity they produced against the
Greeks in last Saturday’s 2-0 win.

“Argentina are the
best team in our group, but if we play as a team like we did (against
Greece), we’re capable of getting a result,” said Park, whose views
were backed by the team’s coach, Jung-Moo Huh.

Huh, who participated at Mexico 1986 as a player where he faced Diego Maradona, his rival in the dugout on Thursday, said:

“We’ll give it our best shot, because my players can only grow in stature against opponents of their calibre.

“Argentina are
among the favourites, but we have good players, too. In football, the
lesser teams are always capable of beating the bigger ones,” said the
55-year-old.

Stopping Messi

On Thursday, the
Koreans will be up against Argentine superstar, Lionel Messi, who
proved more than a handful for Nigeria’s defence in their opening game.

The current world
player of the year is someone who is capable of deciding the outcome of
matches all by himself and reports suggest that Huh, who used a 4-4-2
formation in the game against the Greeks, will switch to a more
defensive 4-2-3-1 line-up when his side face Messi and company on
Thursday.

With only Chu-Young Park expected to be up front against Argentina, it is obvious the emphasis will be on stopping Messi.

“We are scared of
Messi. We think that the only way to stop him is breaking his leg,”
joked South Korean goalkeeper, Sung-Ryoung Jung, in anticipation of
facing the Barcelona star.

Huh, on the other hand, invoked the story in the Bible of David and Goliath in giving his team a fighting chance.

“We all know what the bible says, and who fell. If we can defend
well, we do not have to give up the match as a lost cause,” said Huh.

Greece
were disappointing in their 2-0 loss to South Korea, but they say they
are ready to put that embarrassing defeat behind them ahead of
Thursday’s match against the Super Eagles who they believe they are
capable of beating.

According to
striker, Dimitris Salpingidis, they have the quality to bounce back
from their opening defeat and stay alive in South Africa. “We have
quality, and we’re not out of the tournament yet.

There’s still two
games to play. We still have dreams and we’ll do our best to make them
continue,” said the Panathinaikos star. “Like us, Nigeria lost their
opening match. They’re a very good team, very physical, strong and
fast, a quality outfit. Nigeria work well as a team and created chances
against Argentina. They’re very good when they play the ball in attack.
But we have also shown in recent years that in big matches we have a
compact defence with a quick counter-attack, that’s the way we play.”

Overcoming the jinx

If the Greeks
defeat the Super Eagles, it will be their first ever win at the World
Cup, even though they also remain in search of their first World Cup
goal having failed to hit the back of the net at their only other World
cup appearance back in 1994 when they scored none and conceded 10,
including two to the Super Eagles.

The team’s coach,
Otto Rehhagel, faced rare criticism from the Greek media after
Saturday’s loss but Salpingidis down played those criticism, saying:
“Statistics are for the media. On the pitch you don’t think about past
results, but in every match you try to win. We’re playing in the
greatest tournament in the world. We’re trying to be happy and enjoy
the competition and give the fans something to cheer about.”

His teammate,
Vassilis Torosidis, however played down the prospect of his country’s
revival at the World Cup, saying a “transformation” ahead of the key
match against Nigeria is not possible. The 25-year-old Torosidis said
the defence-minded Greeks will redouble their efforts for Thursday’s
encounter at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein but are unlikely to
undergo any radical change.

“To be honest, there can be no transformation in five days, not for
any team,” the defender said. “What we need to be is very stubborn and
to show this on the pitch. Even if we don’t win, we won’t be
disappointed as long as we play well.”

Wolfgang Stark, the
German referee who handled the Nigeria-Argentina tie last Saturday, has
come under severe criticism from FIFA’s referees’ committee, for
allowing the goal that decided the game in favour of the South
Americans.

The FIFA’s
referee’s committee criticised Wolfgang Stark’s decision not to give a
foul for Walter Samuel’s obstruction in the build-up to the goal.

The Spanish
newspaper, Ole, reports that a FIFA post-match analysis ruled that
there was a foul in the build-up to Gabriel Heinze’s 6th minute
match-winning header, and that Stark should never have allowed the goal.

The FIFA referees’
committee released their findings on Tuesday, as a guide for future
judgments in this year’s tournament. And amongst other rulings, they
made it clear to referees that they must watch for infractions at
corners and free-kicks – specifically attacking players blocking
markers, as was the case last Saturday.

As Juan Sebastian
Veron’s cross floated over Argentine player, Walter Samuel grabbed
Nigeria’s Chinedu Obasi and prevented him from moving, thereby giving
Heinze all the space he needed to head the ball into the back of the
Nigerian net.

Stark should have,
therefore, penalised Samuel for obstruction and awarded a free-kick to
the Super Eagles – a judgment that could have changed the course of the
whole game for the Argentines, who missed several gilt-edged chances
owing to the brilliant form of Nigerian goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama.

Although the ruling comes too late for the Super Eagles, it has
interesting implications for the rest of the tournament; a sign that
FIFA will not tolerate the pushing, shoving, and holding commonplace on
both sides at dead-ball situations, and that in future, such offences
will be punished with either disallowed goals or penalties, in the case
of the defence committing an infraction.