The Greek national football team unfortunately missed the opportunity to write history once more on Sunday evening, after a dramatic and tense game that saw competition surprise Costa Rica progress to the quarter finals to face Holland.
Without a clear favorite, Costa Rica and Greece offered the football fans in the Arena Pernambuco in Recife a thrilling game. The Costa Ricans entered the game stronger, with Greece managing to balance the game about half an hour into game time. In the first half of the game Orestis Karnezis was not under any significant threat from the Costa Rican side, with star player Joel Campbell being unable to free himself from the Greek defensive line.
Early on n the second half of the game though Costa Rica opened the score with Bryan Ruiz (52’), who caught the Greek defense of guard. Things could have been worse for Greece after the Australian referee missed a handball offense by Vasilis Torosidis that should have resulted in a penalty. Fernando Santos substituted Andreas Samaris for Kostas Mitroglou in an effort to make the Greek side more aggressive and things started looking up when Costa Rican center back Oscar Duarte was sent off with a second yellow card.
Although Greece had a one-man advantage and put the pressure on the Costa Rican defensive line, the Greek players did not have the clarity of mind to take advantage of the situation. Nevertheless, Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos equalized the game with his first goal for the national team in the dying moments of the game (90 +1’).
By that point Costa Rica ran out of steam and took a pounding from the Greek side, which missed significant opportunities to end the game with Fanis Gekas (94’), Kostas Katsouranis (113’) and Kostas Mitroglou (119’). In the dramatic penalty shoot out that followed, the Costa Rican team had luck on its side and goalkeeper Keylor Navas blocked Gekas’ shot, resulting in a victory in the for the Central American team.
The Sunday-evening game was the final official match with Fernando Santos at the helm, who has opted not to renew his contract with the Greek Football Federation (EPO) while team captain Giorgos Karagounis will also retire from the national football team after an impressive 139 caps. The national team will be returning from Brazil on Tuesday at 6.30 in the afternoon.
