Nigeria v Greece Betting Preview

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Written by Matthew Pitt Tuesday, 15 June 2010 12:21

Thursday 17 June sees Greece take on Nigeria at 1500 GMT in the Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein. Both teams lost their opening Group B fixtures so will be betting they can make amends and get some much needed points on board.

Greece went down 2-0 to South Korea but it was not just the result that was disappointing but the manner of how they lost. The Greece coach Otto Rehhager has said his side must make drastic changes if they are to stay in the 2010 World Cup. They found themselves behind after just seven minutes and were under relentless pressure from the Koreans. Even though Greece improved in the second half they still continued to give the ball away cheaply and were terrible in the air, this against one of the tournaments shorter sides.

This is Greece's second World Cup finals, having also qualified in 1994 where they lost all three group games and failed to score a single goal. Judging by their performance against South Korea, history could be about to repeat itself.

Betfair odds

Nigeria 1.98

Greece 4.6

Draw 3.5

Score prediction: 2-2 at 29.0

Nigerian fans may see the 1-0 loss at the hands of Diego Maradona's Argentina as a good result but they would have lost by a cricket score if it had not been for a heroic performance by the Super Eagles goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama. Like Greece, Nigeria conceded a goal very early in the match, six minutes in to be exact, and never really looked like getting back into the game.

However, they looked much more lively when former Newcastle United frontman Obafemi Martins, now at Wolfsburg, came on as a 52nd minute substitute and it would be surprising if he does not start in Thursday afternoon.

Nigeria are the bookmakers favourites with odds on Betfair being almost odds on at 20/21. Greece are a 7/2 long-shot whilst the draw will seee you get odd of around 5/2. With the match seeing less than 2.5 goals being very short at 4/7,better value can be found on Nigeria to win to nil (15/8) and Nigeria to keep a clean sheet (11/10).