The score was 1-1. The first and second half of the game AND overtime were over with more than 2 hours of game time. To determine the winner, the World Cup 2014 game switched to 5 penalty shootout kicks for each team.
Costa Rica had made a goal on all 4 of their kicks so far, but Greece only had 3 out of 4. They missed one of theirs when the Costa Rica goalie Keylor Navas made a brilliant block on one.
It Was Down to the Last Possible Moment
If Michael Umaña from Costa Rica could pull it off and make the fifth and last penalty goal Costa Rica would win the game and enter the quarter finals for the 2014 World Cup.
How would it feel to have the weight of all 5 million Costa Ricans on your shoulders while making this kick?
Michael pounded it past the Greece goalkeeper to launch Costa Rica into their first-ever World Cup quarter-finals! The entire country of Costa Rica erupted into a frenzy!
Watch the game highlights here:
World Cup 2014 – Costa Rica vs. Greece in the Knockout Round
This game was a knockout game to see who would advance to the quarterfinals for the World Cup 2014. Costa Rica played a cautious first half, maintaining control of the ball while making a few cautious advances towards the goal. It was only in the second half that Bryan Ruiz from Costa Rica made the first goal of the game. The Grecian goalie was so surprised by the goal that he didn’t even make a move to stop it.
Greece started making desperate plays to try for a goal as the time ticked away. They finally succeeded to score a point amid a scuffle at the Costa Rica goal, albeit in extra time at the end of the second half. The game was tied, and the Ticos were furious!
Tie Breakers
Since this was a knockout game, the game couldn’t end in a tie. To break the tie, 30 minutes were added to the game, but no more goals were made by either team. The next tie-breaker was a penalty shootout – each team has 5 penalty kicks and the most goals wins. One player at a time from a team has a free kick at the goal with just the opponents’ goalie defending. The entire game comes down to one kick and one chance for the goalie to block it.
“Think Big!”
Costa Rica and Greece both made the first 3 goals, and it was looking tight. The tides changed when the Costa Rica goalie Keylor Navas blocked a kick by the Grecian player Theofanis Gekas. If Costa Rica made the last penalty kick they would win the game! The entire game and the chance to progress to the World Cup quarter-finals came down to one kick, by Michael Umaña. He coolly faked out the goalie and slammed it into the top left of the goal.
They had done it!
Costa Rica had beaten Greece and advanced to the World Cup 2014 quarter finals! The final score was 1(5) – 1(3).
They couldn’t have done it without their Key Player – goalkeeper Keylor Navas. He blocked 7 out of 8 shots by Greece, and one penalty shot.
A huge disadvantage Costa Rica faced was playing down a player for half of the game. They lost a player because of a red card penalty and played with one less player for over an hour, while still holding back the full force of Greece. It was obvious they were driven by the words of their coach Pinto “Think big.”
On the Streets of Costa Rica
Since we are living in Costa Rica, we went to the capital San Jose to check out the chaos. Everyone was out on the streets with red jerseys and flags, blowing horns, banging on drums, pots and pans, or anything they had to make noise. The roads were filled with cars, and everyone was honking their horn at the same time to the national tune of, “beeeeeeep beep beep beeeeeeeeep.”
People were in the roads waving flags and banging frypans together. The sidewalks were full of people, so they flooded the roads, walking in-between the cars.
The bus we were riding was bogged down by traffic, and we inched along for over an hour. Groups of kids ran down the lines of cars in the road giving high fives to everyone and banging on the sides of the bus. I got a few high-fives from way up in the bus window. The atmosphere was electric!
We decided the bus would take another 3 hours to make it 3 miles into town we hopped off to walk. We found the cause of the traffic jam. A huge crowd of people were in the road and stopped every car to share their excitement. They would swarm the car and rock it back and forth like a toy! The driver would make his way out and the next car would be engulfed.
It was super exciting to see the locals so happy about winning! We didn’t even make it to the plaza in San Pedro where everyone was headed to celebrate, but we saw enough along the way. They kept at it until long into the night!
It was awesome watching Costa Rica win the World Cup soccer game against Greece. The entire country will remember this for a long time!
Were you watching the game? What did YOU think?! Leave a comment below!
These are the rest of the pictures we knew you’d like to see!
