- Gareth O'Reilly
- Wed, Jun 25 2014
A dramatic end meant that a penalty from Georgias Samaras two minutes into injury time meant that Greece progress to the last 16 while Ivory Coast will progress no further. The unpredictability of the 2014 World Cup continued as the Ivory Coast had one foot in the last 16 before it was snatched away from them cruelly at the death.
The opening twenty minutes was more about injuries than about any real goal mouth action. Panagiostis Kone's night only lasted twelve minutes before he was forced off through injury.
Not long after that set back Greece also had Karnezis, their goalkeeper, require medical attention due to a back complaint. However after a lengthy delay in proceedings the Greece shot stopper was able to continue, but just five minutes later Kanezis signalled that he needed to be replaced as Glikos emerged from the bench for his third cap.
Greece were to go closest with one of the first shots of the contest as Samaras played in Holebas who cannoned his powerful shot off the cross bar.
Just a minute later a Karagounis free kick forced Barry into his first real save of the game although it was unlikely the keeper was ever going to be beaten by the tame long range strike.
With half time approaching the Greek substitute Samaris benefited from some poor play by Ivory Coast. Georgias Samaras latched onto a poor Cheick Tiote pass, before playing a through ball to Samaris who slotted past the on rushing Barry.
Neither side really threatened in the opening moments of the second half but Salpingidis did go close in the 58th minute when he unleashed a long range drive that was well parried by Barry on the Ivory Coast goal line.
Ivory Coast struggled to control the game in the second half but they did have one moment of brightness as Kalou curled an effort inches wide of the far post after cutting inside his defender.
Karagounis just moments later almost scored the goal of the tournament so far as he unleashed a 40 yard effort that smashed off Barry's cross bar before going over into the stands.
The chances were now coming thick and fast as Sol Bamba became the latest man to go close after he headed a Yaya Toure corner just wide.
Then with just over fifteen minutes to play Gervinho played a neat ball into the path of Bony who had a simple but all the same difficult job of slotting home past the keeper from close range.
In added time things were about to get just about as dramatic as they could. Samaras was tripped in the penalty area and in the 92nd minute Samaras stepped up to smash home a penalty that sent Greece through and put Ivory Coast on the plane home.
Greece: Orestis Karnezis (Panagiotis Glikos 24), Giannis Maniatis, Kostas Manolas, Georgias Samaras, Panagiostis Kone (Andreas Samaris 12), Giorgos Karagounis (Theofanis Gekas 78), Dimitrios Salpingidis, Vasilis Torosidis, Lazaros Christodoulopoulois, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Jose Holebas
Subs Not Used: Girogos Tzavellas, Vangelis Moras, Alexandros Tziolis, Kostas Mitroglou, Loukas Vyntra, Stefanos Kapino, Giannis Fetfatzidis, Pangiotis Tachtsidis.
Booked: None
Ivory Coast: Boubacar Barry, Arthur Boka, Kola Toure, Salomen Kalou, Cheick Tiote, Gervinho (Giovanni Sio 83), Didier Drogba (Ismael Diomande 78), Serge Aurier, Yaya Toure, Serey Die, Sol Bamba
Subs Not Used: Ousmane Diarrassouba, Didier Zokora, Mathis Bolly, Jean-Daniel Akpa-Akpro, Wilfried Bony, Didier Ya Konan, Max Gradel, Sylvain Gbohouo, Constant Djakpa, Sayouba Mandé.
Booked: Didier Drogba (37), Salmon Kalou (62), Serey Die (69).
Referee: Carlos Vera (Ecuador)
Attendance: 55,095
Extratime.com Man Of The Match: Georgias Samaras (Greece)
