Greece vs. Ivory Coast, 2014 World Cup: Greeks through on 93rd minute winner

Greece advanced to the Round of 16 thanks to a stoppage time penalty that gave them a 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast. Wilfried Bony appeared to be the hero of the match after equalizing for Les Éléphants in the 74th minute, but a soft penalty call in stoppage time allowed Georgios Samaras to win the match for the Greeks.

With the match tied at 1-1, Greece earned a penalty in the 91st minute when Giovanni Sio clipped Samaras ever so slightly as the Greek striker prepared to take a shot. Samaras stepped up and fired successfully.

Samaras, the man who was fouled, stepped up to the spot, buried the penalty, and incited a celebration that was as great as you’d expect.

Here’s the finish.

And that’s a lot harder than it looks. Bony wasn’t played into an easy shooting position by the pass, and adjusted nicely.

Don’t think that this came off a pretty build-up. Greece are still Greece, after all. Cheick Tiote will be kicking himself after making the turnover that led to this goal. This is Greece’s first goal of the World Cup, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

That’s left back Jose Holebas cutting all the way across the pitch and taking a rip with his right foot. Okay!

The Ivory Coast were rocked by bad news earlier in the week, as Yaya and Kolo Toure learned that their brother had lost his lengthy battle with cancer. They are expected to start despite this.

Because of the Greeks’ reputation for sitting back and not doing much in the way of attacking, it’s possible that Yaya is moved back from his normal attacking midfield slot to a central midfield role to accommodate an extra attacker. Greece, meanwhile, will be without captain Konstantinos Katsouranis, and will likely start fellow veteran Giorgios Karagounis in his place.

For once, Greece have some incentive to attack, since they’re last in the group on goal differential and will go out with a draw. But that hasn’t stopped them from playing an ultra-defensive game in the past, so don’t expect them to open and up and try to do soccer things just because it would be advantageous for them to do so.

Greece captain and Euro 2004 survivor Konstantinos Katsouranis was sent off in his team’s last match, and is likely to be replaced by fellow veteran of that tournament Giorgios Karagounis. Kostas Mitroglou has been fighting for fitness all tournament, but will probably be given another chance to start up top.