Match 19: Greece vs. Nigeria Play-By-Play Thread (R)

No, Green's platform (surface defined by his two palms and two shoulders) was never square to the ball. His right palm was further back than his left, and both his hands were too vertical and close to his body, rather than out in front of him. When the ball hit his platform, it deflected up-and-right, and gained topspin. The hop was exactly enough to get outside the radius of his arm, which is one-in-ten-thousand. Still, if he'd just squared up to the ball, his torso would have acted like a backstop. This pattern has actually happened in a previous WC -- somebody posted the YouTube video of a keeper making almost the identical tilted-platform error, and the ball took almost the same hop-topspin-roll into the corner. Absolutely eerie to play them both side-by-side.

Chaouchi made a similar mistake -- he never got his torso behind the ball. His platform was square to his own goal plane, but not to the ball's path. In his case, the ball didn't even hit his platform -- it bounced up over it, and kissed his left shoulder.

Enyeama's platform was good, his torso was solidly behind the ball, he just didn't catch it, and it rebounded hard off his palms. Kahn did the same thing vs. Brasil in the '02 final.

this is the point. what we are seeing now is not the same team you are describing. I don't think they can win or draw argentina but this is some of that what was shown in EURO

Are you seriously trying to argue that the difference in this game was not the red card to Kaita?

They don't need 5 gols.3 gols are enough.Check your maths.

Argentina would just have to beat Greece by one goal. Nigeria would have the best goal difference in that scenario.

I don't think they'll beat Korea either, though with their goalie it's possible.

Or the Greece that played against Nigeria before the red card.

Argentina and Greece to go through. Arg. plays careful and it ends 1-1. Nigerians have their pride to play for, plus I like how they match up against Korea. We'll see a Nigeria full force attacking, Korea needs to counterattack which we saw today doesn't work for them.

I would argue semantics and say the difference was the way Nigeria reacted to the red card.

But I don't rule out an equalizer in the four minutes of stoppage time.

...and I certainly won't miss them. I can't get the last 90 minutes of my life back.

No, based on the previous post, if 2-1 stands, Argentina beating Greece and Nigeria beating S. Korea would put Nigeria through. Nigeria beating South Korea would automatically put Nigeria ahead on GD, and Argentina beating Greece would automatically put Nigeria ahead of Greece on GD. Since GD is the first tiebreaker, Nigeria is through with a victory and an Argentina win.

funny thing that if nigeria win by 1 goal and greece lose by any result , then nigeria qualify

True enough.

Very hard to tell what this Greek team is capable of...They're playing well against 10 Nigerians, but what does that tell us? They played horribly against South Korea.

With Argentina all but qualified, I could see them taking it easy against Greece...so a surprise result is definitely in the cards, if not very likely...

Of course they need fewer goals if Argentina loses.

I believe Nigeria will defeat S.Korea. That will give each of them 3 points, with the tie-breaker (is it goal difference first or head to head?) deciding between them. However, with Argentina virtually qualified and Greece probably bunckering for their lives to get a point out of that match, it will be pathetic but true that Greece might be the side to advance from this group.

Well if Nigeria beats Korea by 2 goals and Argentina does what they did to Korea to Greece, then we can still go through. We'll all be on 3 pts.

Yes, Nigeria completely fell apart when they went down to 10 men. And the Greeks have capitalized on that.

But what the hell do I know, compared to navijacica, who created his BigSoccer account two days ago?

Again I will need to take a class in english. Ok, yes the red card was the turnover but what greece is doing is not the result of one man advantage. Sure, maybe even goal is due to this. But Greece is actually playing now. They weren't playing before.

True dat. Wow.