RECIFE, Brazil - With his team down to 10 men for nearly an hour, Keylor Navas made sure Costa Ricas last line of defence held firm. Keith Hernandez Jersey . The goalkeeper came through with a string of stops in regulation and extra time and then made the only save in a penalty shootout to send Costa Rica through to the World Cup quarterfinals on Sunday with a win over Greece. After Navas dived to his right to push out the effort by Theofanis Gekas, Costa Rica defender Michael Umana scored the decisive spot kick for a 5-3 win in the shootout, sending the team sprinting down the pitch to embrace its goalkeeper. The game had finished 1-1 following extra time, after Greece equalized in second-half injury time. "It was only a dream for us, a dream that became a reality," Navas said. "A dream that was dreamt by an entire country." Costa Rica will play one of the tournament favourites the Netherlands in the quarterfinals on Saturday in a surprising appearance in the last eight for the small country that has a quarter of the population of Brazils biggest city and which hardly anyone picked to even make it past the group stage. "To the entire people in Costa Rica, those at home and out on the streets, this is for you," Costa Ricas Colombian coach Jorge Luis Pinto said. "This is a people that love football and they deserve it. ... We will continue fighting. We will go on. We see beautiful things." The victory also delighted the majority of the just over 41,000 fans in Recife as the Brazilian locals shouted for Costa Rica throughout the game and often broke out into chants of "Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ticos!" — using the common nickname for Costa Ricans. Greece was often booed. Costa Rica went ahead in the 52nd minute with a coolly taken goal by captain Bryan Ruiz, but the game changed when Oscar Duarte clumsily lunged at Greeces Jose Holebas in the 66th and was sent off with a second yellow card. Pouring forward, the Greeks did beat Navas in injury time when defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos smashed in a rebound to make the teams numerical advantage eventually pay. Yet Navas kept denying the Greeks through extra time and then, crucially, when he dived, threw up a hand and pushed Gekas spot-kick away at the end. "Obviously he has to be congratulated," Greece coach Fernando Santos said of Costa Ricas keeper. "If it werent for (him), the results would have been different." Santos was sent to the stands by Australian referee Ben Williams just before the penalties and said he watched the shootout on a television inside the stadium. "Sadness," he said of Greeces elimination and his last game in charge of the team. "Definitely sadness. Not much (else) goes through your mind at that time." The red card for Duarte changed the game — which Costa Rica had slowly begun to control — and Greece surged forward for most of the remainder of the match. But, with the exception of Papastathopoulos goal, they just couldnt get past Navas as shot after shot was blocked. Greece had 13 shots on target to Costa Ricas two. Navas smothered a volley from Dimitris Salpingidis from point-blank range in the first half. After the equalizer, he threw himself high to tip over a header from substitute Konstantinos Mitroglou that would have surely been the winner in the dying seconds of regulation time. He then made three crucial stops in extra time, when Costas Katsouranis, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and Mitroglou were all denied. During the shootout, the Costa Rican squad knelt in a line. They then burst onto their feet to race over to Navas and smother him in a huddle when Umanas shot hit the net and Costa Rica made the last eight at the World Cup. "We will not stay on the quarterfinals," coach Pinto said. "Rest assured that we will not get eliminated there." ___ Lineups: Costa Rica: Keylor Navas; Giancarlo Gonzalez, Michael Umana, Oscar Duarte, Junior Diaz, Cristian Gamboa (Johnny Acosta, 77); Celso Borges, Christian Bolanos (Randall Brenes, 83), Yeltsin Tejeda (Jose Cubero, 66); Joel Campbell, Bryan Ruiz. Greece: Orestis Karnezis; Kostas Manolas, Vasileios Torosidis, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Jose Holebas; Andreas Samaris (Konstantinos Mitroglou, 58), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Giorgos Karagounis, Giannis Maniatis (Costas Katsouranis, 78); Georgios Samaras, Dimitris Salpingidis (Theofanis Gekas, 69). Bob Gibson Cardinals Jersey . -- Samuel Henley scored twice, including the game winner, as the Val-dOr Foreurs doubled up the host Shawinigan Cataractes 4-2 on Sunday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League play. Brad Boxberger Rays Jersey . The leagues board of governors accepted the five-year deal during a conference call Friday. The CFLPA voted in favour Thursday night. CALGARY -- Five teams within one point fighting for two playoff spots. Thats the reality that the Calgary Flames woke up to on Wednesday morning along with the Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche. But thanks to a 3-2 overtime win over the Sharks on Tuesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome, the Flames (33-25-12) pulled to within one point of the Coyotes (34-25-11) for seventh spot in the hotly-contested Western Conference. That narrow gap has Calgary feeling bold. "We know the importance of every single game and the points that are at stake every night," said forward Matt Stajan, who scored the overtime winner against the Sharks. "You know if you let any slip away, at least one of those teams is going to get a jump on you. We want to be the team thats getting a jump on the other teams and by doing that weve got to keep winning." Heading into their game in Vancouver against the Canucks on Wednesday, the Coyotes sat with 79 points just one point ahead of the Sharks, Flames, Kings and Avalanche. The Flames will be looking to continue their ascent up the standings when they host the Coyotes on Thursday night. "We have to come out (Thursday) and play our best game and hopefully get two points," said forward Alex Tanguay, who has continually stated that he believes the Flames have what it takes to qualify for the post-season. "Certainly right now were in a good frame of mind. Were extremely confident and we need to be. This is a crucial time of the year for us. "This is our playoffs. Were already in them. Some of the teams can sit back and get themselves ready a little bit more and rest maybe perhaps a little bit more." After his teams overtime triumph over the Sharks, Calgary coach Brent Sutter had a huge grin on his face and even celebrated by giving assistant coach Dave Lowry a big hug on the bench. "Im actually a pretty emotional guy but I just control it and you guys dont get to see it," Sutter said. "These games are emotional games. Its playoff hockey and what we were going through last night in the game and the adversity we had to go through in different ways, I was happy the guys were able to prevail through it. It showed a lot about the character inside the dressing room." As to whether Sutter will celebrate like that in the future, he said: "Now you guys are making a big deal about it, I guess Ill never do it again. I dont want to be answering these questions." Instead Sutter would like to talk about the type of contributions hes getting from players like Stajan, who got a vote of confidence from his coach by being used in overtime against San Jose. "Thats probably one of the first times hes had an opportunity to play four-on-four hockey," Sutter said. "The waay hes been playing, I felt good about him going on the ice. Roberto Alomar Blue Jays Jersey. " Sutter also continued to commend the play of Sven Baertschi, who has counted two goals in three games since being summoned from the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League on an emergency basis. When asked if Baertschi would still be in the lineup against the Coyotes on Thursday, Sutter responded in the affirmative. "He might see another eight games or seven games or six games," said Sutter, who noted that injured forwards Lee Stempniak, Tim Jackman and Lance Bouma wouldnt be ready to play despite skating on Wednesday. "Once guys are healthy and getting back then obviously you have to re-assign him back, but were not at that stage yet." Tanguay agreed that Baertschi has brought a level of enthusiasm to the Flames that has helped them during their current winning streak. "Its always nice to have young guys coming in," Tanguay said. "Hes been doing some good things and the puck keeps finding him in front of the net. Certainly (Thursday) night he scored a big goal for us and got us going. To have that kind of enthusiasm is good for us at this time of the year." With seven of their remaining 12 games at home, the Flames also hope to get continued support from their boisterous fans at the Saddledome. "Playing at home at this time of year and the games being as big as they are, I think everybodys very engaged in it," Sutter said. "Obviously the team is and the fans certainly have been too." Stajan admitted that the players have received a big boost from the fans during the past three wins at the Saddledome. "As players its huge for us to have our fans on our side and get us going," he said. "We have a lot of home games here down the stretch, so we need the home fans right there from the anthem to be on their feet getting us going. Thats huge to play home games and the crowd definitely has a big factor in shifting momentum in hockey games especially from the start." Notes: Forward Curtis Glencross found out on Wednesday that he would receive no further discipline for his hit from behind on San Jose defenceman Jason Demers late in the first period of Tuesdays game. Glencross, who received a boarding major and a game misconduct for the incident, was disappointed with the call. "I figure it should have been a two minute minor penalty," he said. "Thats why I was probably more frustrated than anything. You look at the game ... and a lot of stuff was let go." ... The Flames have recalled goalie Leland Irving from the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League. With back-to-back games over the next two days, its expected that Irving will get the start in Edmonton on Friday against the Oilers. Cheap JerseysWholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '
