Scoreless draw keeps Japan and Greece alive

Greece's Giorgios Samaras commits a foul against Japan's Atsuto Uchida (L) during their 2014 World Cup Group C soccer match at the Dunas arena in Natal, June 19, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Japan, which had been beaten up in a physical matchup with Cote d'Ivoire in a 2-1 opening loss, once again had to deal with a bigger, stronger and much taller opponent.

Coach Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni dropped Kagawa from the starting lineup in surprise move, putting veteran striker Okubo up front with Europe-based star Keisuke Honda.

Okubo had one of Japan's best chances to score in the first half but sent his header over the crossbar in the 33rd minute

Zaccheroni was frustrated Japan didn't use its speed to exploit the spaces left by Greece being short a player. A win over Colombia won't guarantee Japans moves on to the next round. If Cote d'Ivoire beats Greece, Japan will go home.

"We played too slowly," Zaccheroni said. "This is not a positive result. We absolutely needed to win."

Japan: Japan: Eiji Kawashima, Atsuto Uchida, Keisuke Honda, Yuto Nagamoto, Shinji Okazaki, Yoshito Okubo, Yasuyuki Konno, Hotaru Yamaguchi, Makoto Hasebe (Yasuhito Endo, 46), Yuya Osako (Shinji Kagawa, 57) and Maya Yoshida.

Greece: Orestis Karnezis; Yiannis Maniatis , Kostas Manolas; Georgios Samaras, Panagiotis Kone (Dimitrios Salpingidis, 81), Kostas Mitroglou (Theofanis Gekas, 35), Vasilis Torosidis, Yiannis Fetfatzidis (Georgios Karagounis, 41), Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Jose Holebas and Costas Katsouranis.