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Attendance: 41,242
Costa Rica national football team
World Cup | Round of 16
Jun 29, 2014 at 9pm UK
 
Greece national football team

1-1

Ruiz (52')
Duarte (66')
FT
(aet)
Costa Rica win 5-3 on penalties

Preview: Costa Rica vs. Greece

Sports Mole previews the World Cup second-round match between Costa Rica and Greece.

Costa Rica have caused one of the surprises of the World Cup by topping a group that included Uruguay, Italy and England.

However, Jorge Luis Pinto's side are fully deserving of a place in the last 16, and they will fancy their chances against a Greece side that only qualified for the second round in the final minute of their match with Ivory Coast.

Pinto is likely to keep changes to a minimum as he looks to maintain his team's momentum in the tournament.

Greece looked down and out against Ivory Coast on Tuesday evening before Georgios Samaras struck from the penalty spot in added-on time to help his team reach the knockout stages for the first time in their history.

However, the win came at a price as goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis and midfielder Panagiotis Kone both picked up injuries during the game, which leaves them as huge doubts for the showdown in Recife.

Recent form

Costa Rica: WLDWW

Greece: DWLDW

Possible starting lineups

Costa Rica: Navas, Gamboa, Diaz Campbell, Miller, Gonzalez, Duarte, Ruiz, Borges, Campbell, Tejeda Valverde, Brenes

Greece: Glykos, Torosidis, Holebas, Karagounis, Manolas, Papastathopoulos, Salpingidis, Maniatis, Samaras, Samaris, Christodoulopoulos

Sports Mole says: 2-1

See what our Sports Mole Sofa panel have to say about the match below.


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Written by
Darren Plant
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Yoshito Okubo of Japan controls the ball against Giorgos Samaras of Greece during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group C match on June 19, 2014
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