Costa Rica make last 8 debut

Costa Rica forward Bryan Ruiz celebrates his opening goal against Greece during their World Cup round of 16 match at the Pernambuco Arena in Recife last night. Photo: AFP

Costa Rica reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup for the first time by beating Greece 5-3 on penalties on Sunday after conceding a stoppage time equaliser and playing 54 minutes with 10 men.
After the 1-1 draw following extra time, Costa Rica keeper Keylor Navas made a superb one-handed stop to keep out Theofanis Gekas's fourth spot-kick before Michael Umana fired high into the top corner to send the Central Americans into a last eight meeting with Netherlands.
"Last night, I dreamt, this, it seems untrue. I was relaxed because I dreamed it. I dreamed it but I didn't tell anyone. I felt very confident," said Umana.
"This is for my family. It's for the colleagues who got injured before coming here. They're not with us, but they gave us a hand on the pitch."
The Ticos, whose only previous appearance in the last 16 came in 1990, will play the Dutch in Salvador next Saturday.
An otherwise dire match was brought to life early in the second half when Bryan Ruiz calmly sidefooted Costa Rica ahead but defender Oscar Duarte was sent off on 66 minutes, allowing the Greeks to find a route back into the match.
With the clock ticking past 90 minutes, Navas could only parry a shot into the path of Sokratis Papasthathopoulos who hammered it into the roof of the net.
After an uneventful first half, the spark the match needed to ignite into a spectacle arrived seven minutes after the restart.
The Greece defence parted to give Ruiz acres of space to sidefoot a Christian Bolanos cross into the net from 15 metres.
Yet their hopes of seeing out the match in routine fashion were scuppered when Duarte received his marching orders after a sliding tackle on Jose Holebas produced a second yellow card and opened the door for a Greek comeback.