Recife (Brazil), Jun 29 (EFE).- Costa Rica advanced to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time in history on Sunday upon defeating Greece 5-3 in a penalty shootout after battling to a 1-1 tie here in regulation and injury time.
Costa Rica got on the board first in the 52nd minute with a goal by team captain Bryan Ruiz, and it looked like they had the match sewn up, even though from the 66rd minute onward they were defending with only 10 men on the pitch against a reinvigorated Greek team after defender Oscar Duarte was shown a second yellow card and expelled.
However, in the 92nd minute Sokratis Papastathopoulos managed to sink a powerful tying tally for the Greek squad, ultimately taking the match - played in the Arena Pernambuco in Recife before some 41,000 fans, most of whom never ceased cheering the Central American team - into a penalty shootout.
Michael Umana scored the decisive goal in the shootout for Costa Rica and his teammate, goalkeeper Keylor Navas,
