World Cup 2014: Costa Rica Beats Greece on Penalties
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Costa Rica national football team will play the Netherlands in the 2014 World Cup quarter-final after defeating Greece in Penalty shootout.
After the match was tied 1-1 after 120 minutes in Recife, Brazil, Costa Rica defeated UEFA Euro 2004 champion Greece 5-3 in penalty shootout.
Bryan Ruiz was on target for Costa Rica in the 52nd minute but the team was reduced to 10-man in the 66th minute after Oscar Duarte received his second yellow card.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos equalized the match in stoppage time.
Costa Rica, whose only previous appearance in the last 16 came 24 years ago, defeated Greece 5-3 on penalty shootout and now will play the Netherlands with a place in the semi-final at stake.
“We had analyzed everything, who would take the penalties, who would go first, second and third,” said Costa Rica coach Jorge Luis Pinto.
“We talked about this, that if we played for 120 minutes with one player less, we would take the penalties. It's the law of compensation,” he added.