Costa Rica have been one of the tournament's surprise package,
overcoming Uruguay and Italy before holding England to a goalless draw
as they won Group D.
That dream run continued in Recife on Sunday
as they rode their luck against Greece to win a tense clash at the Arena
Pernambuco, triumphing 5-3 on penalties to set-up a quarter-final clash
against Holland.
The Central Americans came into this match in
the unusual role as favourites and looked to be wilting under the
pressure, with only an exquisite stop by goalkeeper Keylor Navas
stopping Dimitris Salpingidis from giving Greece a first-half lead.
Los
Ticos were struggling to replicate the form they had shown in the group
stage but managed to open the scoring with their first shot on target,
as Bryan Ruiz fired home in the 52nd minute. Costa Rica should
have had a penalty soon after and were reduced to 10 men after 66
minutes, with Oscar Duarte's sending-off eventually telling in
stoppage-time as Sokratis Papastathopoulos struck to take the match into
extra-time.
>> Match Highlights <<
Monday, June 30, 2014
WORLD CUP 2014: Costa Rica (P) 1 - 1 Greece
2:11 AM
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