Greece made history in Fortaleza yesterday by qualifying for the World Cup's round of 16 for the first time in a dramatic finale at the expense of Ivory Coast.
Georgios Samaras's injury-time penalty earned them a 2-1 victory just as Ivory Coast looked poised to take their own historic step into the next round. It was a controversial penalty too, as Samaras seemed to clip his own heel as he went to ground, rather than be fouled by Giovanni Sio.
Greece had looked poised to miss out when Swansea City's Wilfried Bony came off the bench and equalised with 16 minutes remaining, drilling a first-time shot from Gervinho's cutback.
Instead Samaras's intervention means they jumped from the foot of Group C into second place and can look forward to a last-16 tie against Costa Rica. It was deserved on the balance of play given they struck the goalframe three times.
It was a slow-burning contest, though when Greece broke for the first time after 33 minutes, they nearly scored. Samaras fed Jose Holebas, breaking crossfield from his left-back station, and he struck an excellent, rising 20-yard shot that rebounded off the crossbar.
At that stage Greece coach Fernando Santos had already had to make two enforced changes as first Panagiotis Kone and then goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis left the field because of injuries, with Andreas Samaris and Panagiotis Glykos coming on in their place. It would be the first of those substitutes, Olympiakos midfielder Samaris, who struck the opening goal after 42 minutes.
It stemmed from their opponents' sloppiness as Cheick Tioté played an underhit ball to Serey Die and Samaris nipped in and feed Samaras, who returned the ball for the substitute to drive a powerful shot past Boubacar Barry. It was only Greece's third-ever World Cup goal but, chasing qualification themselves, they almost had another. Lazaros Christodoulopoulos meandered through but shot wide, Dimitrios Salpingidis drew a tipover save from Barry and then the veteran Georgios Karagounis rattled the crossbar from 30 yards.
As expected, Yaya Touré and his brother Kolo both started the game despite the death last week of their brother Ibrahim and the whole Ivorian team wore black armbands as a mark of respect. Yet in the heat of Fortaleza their play was sluggish, a problem underlined when Yaya Touré powered past two challenges but overplayed his pass to Didier Drogba who was running clear.
Greece: Karnezis (Glykos, 24); Torosidis, Papastathopoulos, Manolas, Holebas; Christodoulopoulos, Maniatis, Karagounis; Kone (Samaris, 12), Salpingidis, Samaras.
Ivory Coast: Barry; Aurier, K Touré, Bamba, Boka; Die, Tioté (Bony, 61); Kalou, Y Touré, Gervinho (Sio, 83); Drogba (Diamande, 78).
Referee: C Vera (Ecuador).
The doodle of the Greece vs Cote d'Ivoire match has one of the 'G's' sporting a pair of sunglasses and drinking out of a coconut, in a beach football merchandise stand. The surroundings are marked with palm trees and golden sand. A flag of Brazil flutters on top of the stand, and the roof of the stand is done in green and canary yellow. The word 'Google' is written in front of the stand in blue in a banner-like format. Green and canary yellow footballs are strung along both sides in the stall, while a Greece shirt flutters on the left and a Cote d'Ivoire jersey on the right.
When clicking on Google's animated World Cup 2014 doodle number 31, users are directed to search results of Greece vs Cote d'Ivoire. Along with the results in the live scores and schedule widget, there are match reports as well as news about the teams, players and the World Cup.
The Greece vs Cote d'Ivoire match, which was played at the Estadio Castelao in Fortaleza, saw Greece defeat Cote d'Ivoire 2-1. While Greece drew first blood through a Andreas Samaris goal in the 42nd minute, it was nullified out by Wilfried Bony's goal in the 74th minute. The match looked set to head for a draw, when Georgios Samaras scored off a penalty in the third minute of injury time.
In other news, Italy was ousted in a controversy-laden match with Uruguay after a goal by Diego Godin in the 81st minute sealed a second spot in Group D behind group leaders Costa Rica. Italy has crashed out of consecutive World Cups now after having lifted the Jules Rimet trophy in 2006.
The Greece vs Cote d'Ivoire match Google doodle is visible in almost all the parts of the world, save East, West and North Africa, and a part of far South East Asia.
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