COSTA RICA YAENDELEA KUANDIKA HISTORIA, YAITOA GREECE KWA PENALTY

After 90 minutes, the score was 1-1 between Costa Rica and Greece. Greece had survived again..or so it seemed. Just like in their game against Ivory Coast, their goal had come in the “dying” minutes. Talk about resilience. While Costa Rica had taken the lead in the 52nd minute of the game through Bryan Ruiz, Greece Sokratis Papasthathopoulos scored an equalizer with just minutes to go.

30 minutes of extra time were added. Costa Rica players who had played one man down for almost the entire second half after defender Oscar Duarate was sent off with his second yellow, were visibly exhausted. They somehow thanked their Gods when after 120 minutes the score remained the same. The fate had to be decided through penalty kicks.

All five of Costa Rica’s shooters confidently drilled their attempts (a far-cry from yesterday’s Brazil-Chile match) and Navas made a diving, left-handed save against Theofanis Gekas in the fourth round to give his side the edge. Defender Michael Umana strode up to the ball for Costa Rica’s final attempt and converted his penalty to send Los Ticos to the quarterfinals against what will be a heavily favored Netherlands team.

Normal Time + Extra Time: Greece 1 Costa Rica 1

Penalties: Costa Rica 5 Greece 3