Monday, June 30, 2014

WORLD CUP 2014: Costa Rica (P) 1 - 1 Greece

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 <<

Share

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites