Luck seems to be on Costa Rica's side as they are now moving through the quarterfinals after beating Greece on a strong win. The games played at Arena Pernambuco, Recife was an exciting one was the fulltime ended with a draw at 1-1.
The games didn't really kick off not until the match started their second half. The first goal of the game came in at the 52nd minute with Costa Rica's forward, Bryan Ruiz, securing the goal. Ruiz curls a shot forwarded by Bolanos. The ball went straight into the lower corner of the goal, thus the first shot of the game.
Greece tried their best to keep up with Costa Rica, but the Costa Ricans had a very strong defense ahead of them. It was not until the last minute at the 90th when Greece defender, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, miraculously hit the shot for the Grekas. Greece jubilated while Costa Rica was crushed over what could have been a direct ticket to the quarterfinals.
Because of the draw, both teams proceeded to the penalties in order to determine who will proceed to the level and who will go home.
The penalty kick starts off with Costa Rica's Celso Borges. He was able to shoot the kick securing the first penalty goal for the team which Greece responded with a similar goal coming from Greece forward, Konstantinos Mitroglou.
It was basically a shoot and response from both Netherlands and Greece. Shots from Bryan Ruiz and Giancarlo Gonzalez from Costa Rica were all successful as well as penalty shots coming from Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and José Holebas of Greece were all good.
It was during the last few penalty goals that marked who will be going through to the quarterfinals. There were 2 shots remaining both for each team before finishing the penalty. First came Costa Rica's forward Joel Campbell who was able to pin a goal securing another lead for the team. The scorecards showed the scores at Costa Rica 1 (4) while Greece 1 (3).
It was Greece's forward, Theofanis Gekas turn to hit the penalty and to the team's dismay, the ball didn't make it to the goal. Costa Rica needed on clear shot in order to secure the win while Greece needs a miracle for Costa Rica to miss the shot so that they can still have a chance to even the score.
But tough luck for Greece as Costa Rica's defender Michael Umaña managed to secure the leading score for the team. The match ended with a final score of Costa Rica 1 (5) - Greece 1 (3).
