Costa Rica Win Shoot-Out Over Greece

(5-3 pen.)1-1 

Costa Rica and Greece are two of the more surprising teams to reach the knock-out round in the World Cup.  Today the two face each other looking to advance to the quarter-finals.  Both teams play with an emphasis on defense and quality scoring chances were rare.  The first-half ended with neither side pulling ahead.

Captain Bryan Ruiz scored for Costa Rica early in the second-half to take the lead.  Finding space in front of goal, Ruiz directed a rather weak shot to the far-post.  The ball was placed just far enough to avoid the hands of keeper Keylor Navas (52').

Greece are used to playing from behind and a missed tackle by Óscar Duarte left Costa Rica with ten men.  Duarte received a yellow card in the first-half for a foul and saw another in the second-half when he missed a tackle on José Cholevas (R.C. 66').

Playing with one more man than Costa Rica allowed Greece to push numbers forward and found the equalizer in the time added to regulation.  Substitute Theofanis Gekas got a shot on goal that was blocked by keeper Navas.  Sokratis Papastathopoulos was in the right place and knocked the rebound into the net (90 +1').

The match went to extra-time and for Greece it was more of the same.  Despite playing almost entirely in Costa Rica's half, neither team could score the winning goal.  For the second time in the round of 16 a penalty shootout was required to determine the winner.

Costa Rica shot first and scored the first four shots from the spot.  Greece matched Costa Rica for their first three shots, but keeper Navas made a big save to deny the fourth shot by Gekas.  Costa Rica could then end the shootout with a successful shot by the fifth shooter.  That task fell to defender Michael Umaña and he finished from the spot to win the match.

More than once Greece scored late to keep their dreams alive, but it will be Costa Rica who advance and play the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

Costa Rica Snaps U.S. Win Streak

3-1

The U.S. Men's National Team went south to Costa Rica for a World Cup Qualifier rematch.  Costa Rica have been vocal about their protest of the first meeting in March that featured a snow storm in Colorado.

Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan started for the U.S. while Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore were out with injuries.

Costa Rica got off to a perfect start and scored two goals in the first ten minutes of the match.  Defender Acosta got forward on a corner and scored a near-post header (2)'.  Shortly after Bolaños delivered a cross that setup Borges in the box for another header finish (10').

Late in the first-half the U.S. got one back when a penalty was given following a foul by keeper Navas.  Fabian Johnson was tripped by Navas trying to reach a loose ball in the box and saw a yellow card for the infraction.  Dempsey stepped up to take the penalty and he was successful from the spot (43').  His shot was practically right down the middle and Navas got behind the ball, but he could not turn the shot away from his goal.

The second-half started to look better for the United States as Costa Rica played more defensive to protect their lead.  This allowed the U.S. to possess more and press forward.  However one big play by Costa Rican forward Campbell took all the wind out the sails for the U.S.  A long pass out of the back released Campbell who beat defender Besler in a foot race to the ball.  Campbell finished confidently, going through the legs keeper Howard coming off his line (75').

This loss snaps a twelve game winning streak for the United States, but more importantly it keeps the race to the 2014 World Cup much tighter.  The United States will host Mexico on Tuesday in another important World Cup qualifier.