Greece

Sani Kaita apologised "to everyone" after his red card helped Greece to a 2-1 victory over Nigeria yesterday.

"I apologise to everyone. To the Nigerian people, the officials and my team-mates," the 24-year-old said after his first-half sending-off for violent conduct.

With the Super Eagles leading 1-0 after a 16th-minute Kalu Uche free-kick and seemingly in control, Kaita kicked out at Vassilis Torosidis in the 33rd minute and was dismissed. The Russian-based player looked aghast as he left the pitch with his shirt pulled over his head.

Within 11 minutes Greece were level thanks to Dimitris Salpigidis's deflected shot and they snatched the winner with 20 minutes remaining through Torosidis's poached effort.

"I accept the red card as a justified decision, I am very disappointed, I hope Argentina can help us out," Kaita added.

Georgios Samaras savoured Greece's first win at the World Cup finals to give them a glimmer of hope of reaching the next stage.

Samaras, who came off the bench to play his part in the victory, was delighted at the result. "We have a very good team and I just try to do my best. We deserved to win because we worked really hard," he said. "They are an African team with a lot of strength with power and pace. We pushed ourselves to the limit.

"This is a good moment for us. I never feel pressure. I am positive about football, every single day, every single minute. We want to enjoy it but there is not time for celebration.

"We have a flight back to Durban in the morning and then training. We have only four days to prepare for the next game [against Argentina]."

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