They could go home as national heroes right now. Never before in the history of Costa Rican Soccer has a team from Costa Rica ever reached the quarter finals in World Cup competition. The Ticos were the underdogs in every match they played, but here they are among the top 8 Soccer teams in the world.
The small but proud country of Costa Rica has been in a state of suspended animation ever since the Ticos, a fond nickname for Costa Ricans managed to tie the English team and advance to the next round. They had already beaten a tough team from Uruguay by a final score of 3 to 1 and then pulled off another upset victory over the Italian team 1- zip. Amazing!
So, with only 16 teams remaining in World Cup contention, Costa Rica drew the veteran team from Greece. For this match the oddsmakers had given both teams positive numbers with a slight edge going to Costa Rica. Still, it was anyone’s guess as to how the game would come out.
The first 45 minute period ended in a scoreless tie but Costa Rican Bryan Ruiz scored a much anticipated goal at the 52 minute mark, and the crowds went wild. Pandemonium broke out in small bars all over Costa Rica. Then the drama began.
With the Ticos holding on to a one goal lead, defender Oscar Duarte was shown his second yellow card and sent to the bench. Costa Rica now had to defend their lead with only 10 players against 11 for the Greeks.
The rules of Soccer are set up so that if a player receives a red card for a blatant or malicious foul, or if he is shown two yellow cards, for less serious violations, that player is ejected from the game and no substitute is sent in to replace him. That’s the way it is. A player gets himself ejected and his team must then complete the match shorthanded.
The pressure then falls heavily on the goal tender when his team is playing a man down and Costa Rica’s goalkeeper Keylor Navas was up to the task stopping attack after attack from the Greek team. But then, in stoppage time, Sokratis Papastathopoulos was in the right place at the right time to kick in a deflected ball and even the match 1-1.
The already exhausted Costa Rican team held off the Greeks for an additional 30 minutes of overtime play and in the end won the match on penalty kicks when Navas once again shined by blocking a shot and giving the Ticos yet another World Cup win.
