: Costa Rica made history by reaching its first World Cup quarterfinal at Greece’s expense, though it was the way it did it that will live long in the memory, surviving half an hour of extra-time with 10 men before going on to prosper in the penalty shootout.
When Sokratis Papastathopoulos equalised in the 91st minute it appeared Costa Rica was going to suffer the same fate as its Concacaf neighbour, Mexico. Greece’s late goal took the game into extra-time and, after losing Oscar Duarte to a second yellow card midway through the second half, Costa Rica looked to have little chance of survival.
Yet somehow it did, even managing a few enterprising moments of its own through Jose Miguel Cubero and Randall Brenes. The Greeks were scandalously wasteful of some huge overlaps and promising positions in the second period of extra-time and Kostas Mitroglou saw a shot saved right at the end when he appeared more likely to score. Thus reprieved, Costa Rica completed a perfect set of penalties, scoring all five, with Michael Umana hitting the winning shot after Theo Gekas saw his effort, Greece’s fourth, saved by Keylor Navas.
The goalkeeper, without whom Costa Rica might not have seen extra-time, let alone penalties, dived to his right but beat away Gekas’s shot with his left hand. It was a remarkable conclusion to a dramatic evening. Few World Cup victories can have been achieved against such odds. Costa Rica advances to play Holland in Salvador on Saturday, assuming it has any energy left.
In the first half, Costa Rica was not looking as invincible as it had in the group stage and was beginning to look even fairly ordinary. Yet Greece is pretty ordinary, too, and when it looks back at the 52nd-minute goal that handed its opponent the initiative it will kick itself for some statuesque defending.
Christian Bolanos simply rolled a pass along the edge of the penalty area where Ruiz was allowed time to meet it with his left foot. What the shot lacked in speed or power it made up for in accuracy. A static Papastathopoulous watched it slide by in slow motion and by the time Orestis Karnezis realised he needed to get across his goal he had left it too late and the ball was trickling over the line. They all count, but Ruiz might now hold some sort of record for the slowest goal of the tournament.
Duarte sent offCosta Rica might have had a penalty on its next attack and the Australian referee booked Esteban Granados on the substitutes’ bench for grumbling about the non-award, before the script took another turn with a second booking for Duarte. That left Costa Rica just over 20 minutes to play out against 10 men. One side strengthened its defence, the other looked to beef up its attack.
Papastathopoulos provided the day’s second last-minute drama with an equaliser in the 91st minute. Gekas saw a shot saved by Navas but the goalkeeper could only parry and Papastathopoulos pounced. There was time for Greece to come again and Navas, arching backwards, made a fine save from Mitroglou’s header in the dying seconds to take the game into extra-time and its scarcely credible conclusion. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2014
