Costa Rica vs. Greece, 2014 World Cup: 10-man Ticos hold on to win on penalties

Costa Rica went on to win, making all five of their penalties. That save by Navas represented the only missed penalty of the entire shootout.

Here’s Michael Umaña’s winning spot kick.

Bryan Ruiz scored the opening goal for Costa Rica in the 52nd minute, but a red card by Oscar Duarte 14 minutes later put the Ticos at a disadvantage. Sokratis Papastathopoulos struck in stoppage time to level for the Greeks, forcing a much deserved extra time period.

Strangely, Costa Rica did not spend extra time bunkering in and playing for spot kicks. Instead, they played their normal game, just with one fewer player. This left them open to countless Greek counter-attacks -- and really, Greece should have scored more than once -- but a combination of poor finishing and brilliant goalkeeping by Keylor Navas kept the score locked at 1-1.

After a fairly uneventful first half, Bryan Ruiz put Costa Rica up early in the 2nd, scoring in the 52nd minute on a bizarre goal that the entire Greece defense and goalkeeper watched dribble into the back of the net. They looked like they’d hold on or maybe go on to score another until Oscar Duarte picked up a second yellow card, opening a window for Greece to score with a man advantage.

They got their goal eventually, but they needed as much time as possible to score it. Soktratis Papastathopoulos was the man who hit the back of the net in the 91st minute, leveling the match. Greece pressed hard for a winner while Costa Rica keeper Keylor Navas picked up a knock to his right shoulder, but they finished regulation tied at 1-1.

Keylor Navas did everything he could to keep the Ticos in front, but Greece just had too many bodies in the box. And that’s a nice finish for a center back by Soktratis.

This isn’t good for the Ticos.

It was a clear penalty and a chance for the Ticos to just about wrap up a place in the quarterfinals from the spot, except for one little problem -- the referee didn’t award the penalty.

The referee was on the other side of the field, as was his assistant, and the whistle never went for a handball. The Costa Ricans protested, with one bench player even earning a yellow card for his disagreement, but it didn’t do them any good. The referee had already made up his mind -- even if incorrectly -- and the match continued on.

If he didn’t mean to do that, hey, they all count the same. If he did mean to do that, standing ovation.

Keylor Navas, come on doooooown!

Things went a little less smoothly for Greece, who were poor in their opener, then barely scraped a draw in their second match. But in their last group stage game, they won a stoppage time penalty and converted to steal all three points and snatch second place in Group C.

The possession battle - With both of these sides having made it to the knockouts having largely played a brand of deep, counterattacking football, it’ll be interesting to see who -- if anyone -- adapts to seize the initiative in this game. It may well be that neither side is happy controlling possession, which could leave us with a rather boring midfield contest. However, if someone tries to deviate from their usual plan and take control, we could have quite an entertaining match.

Joel Campbell vs. Greece’s centre-backs - Joel Campbell has been Costa Rica’s attacking star at the World Cup so far, having terrorised defences with his blistering pace and directness. The primary focus of Greece’s centre-backs will undoubtedly be keeping the Arsenal man quiet.