Natal: Reduced to ten men after captain Costas Katsouranis was sent off in the 38th minute with his second booking, Greece held on for a 0-0 draw with Japan on Thursday that keeps both alive in Group C and sends rival Colombia to the next round of the World Cup.
Both teams inserted new strikers in search of goals and a first victory, but ultimately the goal was survival and both did that with one match left in group play. Japan would have been eliminated with a loss.
Once Katsouaranis was sent off after a rough challenge on Makoto Hasebe, Greece withdrew into a defensive setup and held firm. Greece surrendered three goals in a loss to Colombia, but even short-handed was better organized against Japan and avoided any critical mistakes.
The draw saw Colombia, who had defeated Ivory Coast 2-1 earlier on Thursday, secure a berth in the knockout stages at their first World Cup since 1998, as they lead Group C with six points with one game to play.
Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni made the brave decision of dropping Shinji Kagawa for Yoshito Okubo.
Japan had over 75 per cent possession in the first half but generally struggled to test Orestis Karnezis with Okubo shooting tamely at Greece's goalkeeper and curling another effort wide either side of the 20-minute mark, before the game changed in the 38th minute, when Katsouranis was sent off.
At the break, Zaccheroni brought on Yasuhito Endo for Hasebe in a bid to insert some creativity into Japan's line-up, before Kagawa was recalled in the 57th minute at the expense of Osako.
Japanese bombarded Greece's goal, with Okubo wasting the best chance when he blazed wide in the 68th minute, but the Europeans desperately held on to frustrate Zaccheroni's side.
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