Japan and Greece battled out a 0-0 World Cup draw at the Estadio das Dunas in Natal on Friday morning.

Greece, which was battered 3-0 by Colombia in its opening match, found itself on the back foot when midfielder Kostas Katsouranis was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence.

But Japan could not capitalise, failing to create any outright goalscoring chances.

The result leaves both teams on one point from two matches, and will need a win in their final group games to have a chance of progressing to the knockout rounds.