Final, 1-1 (Costa Rica wins penalty-kick shootout 5-3): Costa Rica is going to the World Cup quarterfinals after it defeated Greece in the penalty-kick shootout.
Goalkeeper Navas is on his way to becoming a national treasure in Costa Rica. Navas made a flurry of saves during the 120 minutes of regular play but saved his best moment for the end. Navas’ save on Gekas, and Umana’s subsequent goal sent the Ticos to the last eight for the first time in history.
Costa Rica showed incredible grit and bravery by taking the game to penalty kicks in the first place. The Ticos played with 10 men for around 60 minutes, as Greece launched wave after wave of attacks.
Now Costa Rica must recover from Sunday’s emotional ride and prepare for its next game — against the Netherlands on Friday.
That’s all for now and thanks for joining us. Let’s discuss this one on Twitter @NESNsoccer and Facebook. Be sure to keep an eye out for some news, fan reactions, analysis and opinion that is on the way on NESN.com.
Penalty-kick shootout: The shootout is set to begin. Here goes.
Borges will shoot first for Costa Rica, and he confidently converts his penalty kick.
Mitroglou scores for Greece, coolly slotting his penalty kick into the goal.
Ruiz scores for Costa Rica.
Lazaros scores for Greece.
Gonazalez scores for Costa Rica.
Cholevas scores for Greece. It’s 3-3.
Campbell scores for Costa Rica.
Navas saves Gekas’ penalty kick, and Costa Rica leads 4-3.
Umana scores for Costa Rica, and the Ticos have won the shootout 5-3.
End of extra time, 1-1: This will end in heartbreak for one of these teams.
Costa Rica has suffered through the last 60 minutes, following Duarte’s dismissal and Sokratis’ late goal. The courageous Ticos must summon their strength and nerve in the shootout. They will be led by Navas, whose performances at the World Cup make him a contender for the all-tournament team.
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Navas continually frustrated Greece during 120 minutes of action. Time will tell if the Greeks will pay for not scoring during extra time and allowing the game to reach this point.
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120th minute, 1-1: The game now seems destined for a penalty-kick shootout.
But first, Navas makes another tremendous save. This time he rushes off his line to deny Mitroglou’s feebly hit shot from close range.
113th minute, 1-1: Greece breaks forward, taking it all the way down the field until Navas denied Karagounis with another fine save.
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112th minute, 1-1: Costa Rica seems to have decided against trying to defend for 15 minutes. Campbell wins a corner kick with some fine work in the Greece third of the field.
107th minute, 1-1: Navas takes a blow to the knee and he’s now down on the field receiving treatment (while his teammates catch their breaths).
106th minute, 1-1: The second period of extra time is underway, and it starts with a quick Costa Rica attack, which ends with Brenes shooting wide.
105th minute, 1-1: That’s the end of the first period of extra time.
Costa Rica continues to hold on for dear life, while Greece attacks in waves. The exhausted 10 Costa Ricans are making more errors and losing their shape too easily. It’s expected that fatigue will take such a toll, but Costa Rica may not be able to hold off Greece for another 15 minutes unless it rediscovers the defensive excellence it showed in the group stage and the first 90 minutes of this game.
100th minute, 1-1: Somehow, Greece fails to score after a mad scramble in the Costa Rica penalty area.
94th minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Greece continues to threaten Costa Rica with high balls into the Ticos’ penalty area.
Mitroglous headed Katsouranis’ cross toward the Costa Rica goal, but it hit Gekas and went out of bands.
91st minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: The first period of extra time is underway.
90th minute, 1-1: That’s the end of 90 minutes. There’s no winner yet, so the game is going to extra time. There will be two, 15-minute periods. If there is no winner by then, a penalty-kick shootout will determine which team advances.
How can Costa Rica recover from Greece’s last-second goal? The Ticos had a quarterfinal berth in their hands, only to lose it when Sokratis scored Greece’s latest cardiac- and survival-inducing goal.
90th minute +4, 1-1: Navas is down injured after making a great save on Mitroglou’s header. It looks like the Costa Rican goalkeeper can continue.
90th minute +1, 1-1: Greece ties it up with a dramatic, late goal from the center back Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
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Samaras floated a free kick from midfield into the Costa Rica penalty area. Gekas collected the second ball and shot. Navas saved it, but the rebound fell to Sokratis, who gratefully struck it into the goal.
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90th minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Navas is cautioned. Apparently, it’s for time wasting.
88th minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Navas collects a low cross that seemed bound for a Greek attacker. The Ticos continue to bend, without breaking in the game’s final minutes.
83rd minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Costa Rica makes its final substitution. Randall Brenes replaces Bolanos.
82nd minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Greece has had a few free kicks inside of Costa Rica’s half but continues to waste these precious opportunities.
78th minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Greece makes its final personnel change, replacing Maniatis with Konstantinos Katsouranis.
77th minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Costa Rica is making another substitution, replacing Gamboa with an other defender, Johnny Acosta.
72nd minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Manolas is cautioned for a foul from behind on Campbell.
The referee has lost control of the game in the second half.
70th minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Ruiz is cautioned.
69th minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Greece makes another change, bringing on Theofanis Gekas for Salpangidis.
Greece now is playing with three out-and-out strikers against 10-man Costa Rica.
66th minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Duarte has been sent off.
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The Costa Rica defender caught Cholevas’ foot with a misplaced tackle. It’s Duarte’s second yellow card, and Costa Rica now is down to 10 players.
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66th minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Jose Cubera replaceds Tejeda, as Costa Rica makes its first substitution.
58th minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Greece makes its first substitution. Samaris, a midfielder, is replaced by striker Kostas Mitroglou.
56th minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: The referee cautions a player on Costa Rica’s bench. It’s backup goalkeeper Oscar Granados.
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The ball hit the hand of Greece defender Torosidis, and the referee missed it. Costa Rica should have been awarded a penalty kick.
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52nd minute, 1-0 Costa Rica: Bryan Ruiz scores, and the “Ticos” are in front.
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Costa Rica exploited an opening in Greece’s defense. Bolanos passed to Ruiz at the top of the penalty area, and the Costa Rica captain scored with a first-time shot to the lower corner.
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52nd minute, 0-0: FIFA president Sepp Blatter is attending this game.
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48th minute, 0-0: Costa Rica midfielder Tejada is cautioned for a hard foul on Karagounis.
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47th minute, 0-0: Samaras directs his header toward Costa Rica’s goal, but Navas is there to make an easy save.
46th minute, 0-0: The second half is underway.
Halftime, 0-0: That’s the end of the first half. It’s goalless.
The 2014 World Cup has produced some memorable games and and unforgettable moments so far, but there were none in the first half of this contest, aside from Navas’ save on Salpangidis.
Greece and Costa Rica played cautiously, which produced a first half that lacked quality, bite and excitement. It could be that the teams aren’t used to playing games in which they aren’t the obvious underdogs.
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Or perhaps the magnitude of the game is making players — most of whom have never reached this stage of a major international tournament — nervous to a fault. Either way, the game can only become more entertaining in the second half.
42nd minute, 0-0: Costa Rica defender Duarte is cautioned for a light foul on Christodoulopoulos.
37th minute, 0-0: Costa Rica goalkeeper Navas denies Greece a sure-fire goal.
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Greece fullback Cholevas found Salpingidis with a cross to the back post. Salpangidis met the cross with a volleyed shot, but Navas made an outstanding kick save with his trailing leg.
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36th minute, 0-0: Greece midfielder Samaris is cautioned for a foul on Campbell.
30th minute, 0-0: The teams still are cancelling out each other, but Greece is showing a surprisingly adventurous spirit going forward.
But it’s not amounting to much.
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The Greeks are sustaining possession in their own half, and using long, diagonal passes (followed by running midfielders) to attack Costa Rica’s third of the field.
26th minute, 0-0: If the fans at the stadium aren’t entertained by what they see on the field, they’ll make their own fun.
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20th minute, 0-0: Much of the action is taking place in the midfield area, where players from both teams look to drag opposing defenders out of their positions with off-the-ball runs.
But defenders aren’t taking the bait, neither team is showing much creativity, so the game has hit an early lull.
15th minute, 0-0: Sokratis heads Karagounis’ corner kick wide.
Greece has thrived on set pieces in past tournaments, and this Greek team is more likely to score from a dead-ball situation than from open play against Costa Rica.
12th minute, 0-0: Lazaros Christodoulopoulos shoots wide of Costa Rica’s goal, as Greece threatens for the first time.
Eighth minute, 0-0: Bolanos shoots over the crossbar in Costa Rica’s first scoring chance.
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Fourth minute, 0-0: The teams have started slowly and deliberately. Greece is defending in its own half, while Costa Rica applies pressure high up the field.
Costa Rica must be careful not to defend too aggressively, because Greece likes to lure teams forward and hit them with quick counter-attacks into the open space.
First minute, 0-0: Costa Rica-Greece is underway.
Pregame: This aptly describes the matchup we’re about to witness.
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Two Cinderella stories. There can be only one winner.
3:45 p.m.: Here are the lineups:
Costa Rica
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Greece
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3:30 p.m. ET: The Round of 16 of the 2014 FIFA World Cup continues on Sunday, as Costa Rica faces Greece at the Arena Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil.
Costa Rica looks to continue its fairy-tale World Cup run into the knockout rounds. Costa Rica was the surprise winner of Group D after defeating Uruguay and Italy and drawing against England. Costa Rica will rely on its high-pressure, quick counter-attack style against Greece.
Greece was moments away from elimination when it won a late penalty kick against Ivory Coast last Tuesday. Then Giorgios Samaras tied the game, and Greece was moving on to the Round of 16. Greece is hoping its stingy defense and timely goal scoring will help prolong its World Cup journey.
The winner will play the Netherlands in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Costa Rica-Greece kicks off at 4 p.m. Stay right here for all the action from the Arena Pernambuco.
