Michael Umana struck the winning penalty as 10-man Costa Rica’s fairytale run at the World Cup extended into a historic-first quarter-final spot thanks to a dramatic shootout victory against Greece.
The defender calmly slotted home after the outstanding Keylor Navas had palmed away Theofanis Gekas’ attempt.
A poor game had previously seemed to have been settled in a fitting manner when Los Ticos’ Bryan Ruiz opened the scoring with a scuffed effort at the start of the second half.
Their hopes were dealt a serious blow soon after when Oscar Duarte was dismissed for a second yellow card after a lazy hack on left-back Jose Holebas.
Shot-shy Greece did little with their numerical advantage at Arena Pernambuco until defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos followed in a Keylor Navas save to equalise deep into injury time.
Substitute Konstantinos Mitroglou then seemed certain to score past the 120-minute mark only for the Costa Rica stopper to superbly block his effort.
A surprisingly assured penalty shootout was decided in Jorge Luis Pinto’s sides’ favour, with the Netherlands now awaiting the Central American minnows on Sunday at Salvador’s Arena Fonte Nova.
Rank-outsiders Costa Rica came into their first World Cup knockout-stage match since 1990 on the back of a stunning performance in Group D, surprisingly finishing ahead of Uruguay, Italy and England – all former champions.
Greece offered a distinctly prosaic challenge, with the European nation famed for their dogged defending and regimented organisation.
The limited Greeks should have gone ahead before the end of a dull first half, only for the Navas to deflect away when Dimitrios Salpingidis seemed certain to score after being picked out at the back post.
They were left to rue this miss soon after the restart as Ruiz produced a low effort that spun agonisingly into the bottom corner.
The complexion of the match in Recife altered after the hour mark when Duarte was sent off.
Greece had only scored two goals in Group C, but summoned up a crucial late leveller when Navas could only palm a Gekas shot into the grateful Sokratis’ path.
Pressure continued to be applied without any noticeable effect against their exhausted opponents in extra time, with Mitroglou coming closest to preventing spot kicks.
The shootout was an exhibition of penalty taking, with Umama finally delivering the winning effort to cue jubilant celebrations from the Ticos’ following.
