Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/335393
21 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 JUNE 2014 Ivory Coast 1. Boubacar Barry, 17. Serge Aurier, 4. Kolo Toure, 22. Sol Bamba, 3. Arthur Boka, 20. Serey Die, 9. Cheick Tiote 61', 8. Salomon Kalou, 19. Yaya Toure, 10. Gervinho 83', 11. Didier Drogba 78' Subs 16. Sylvain Gbohou, 2. Ousmane Viera, 5. Didier Zokora, 6. Mathis Bolly,7. Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro, 12. Wilfried Bony 61', 13. Didier Ya Konan, 14. Ismael Diomande 78', 15. Max Gradel, 18. Constant Djakpa, 21. Giovanni Sio 83', 23. Sayouba Mande Greece 1. Orestis Karnezis 24', 15. Vasilis Torosidis, 19. Sokratis Papastath- opoulos, 4. Kostas Manolas,20. Jose Holebas,16. Lazaros Christodou- lopoulos, 2. Giannis Maniatis, 10. Giorgos Karagounis 77',8. Panagiotis Kone 12', 14. Dimitris Salpingidis, 7. Georgios Samaras Subs 12. Panagiotis Glykos 24', 3. Georgios Tzavellas, 5. Vangelis Moras, 6. Alex- andros Tziolis,9. Kostas Mitroglou, 11. Loukas Vyntra,17. Theofanis Gekas 77', 18. Giannis Fetfatzidis,21. Kostas Katsouranis, 22. Andreas Samaris 12', 23. Panagiotis Tachtsidis, 13. Stefanos Kapino Greece ...................... 2 Ivory Coast ................ 1 ANDREAS Samaris scored the Greeks' first goal of the tourna- ment in the 42nd minute before Wilfried Bony equalised in the 74th minute - a result which would have sent the Africans to the knockout stages for the first time. But Samaras was fouled by Gio- vanni Sio in the box and then stepped up to the spot, striking the winner into the lower right corner. The Europeans jumped from last place in Group C going into the day to second with four points. They finished behind Colombia but ahead of Ivory Coast (three points) and Japan (one) and will play Group D winners Costa Rica in Recife on Sunday in the last 16. Something magical should have been expected from the Greeks - if nothing else because of the year. Greece made their World Cup de- but in 1994 and won the European Championship in 2004. The Africans played the game with heavy hearts as Ivory Coast players wore black armbands in memory of Ibrahim Toure, brother of Yaya and Kolo, who passed away last week after a bout with cancer. Ivory Coast boss Sabri Lamouchi made three changes to his line- up, including giving a first start to veteran star Didier Drogba as well as bringing on Kolo Toure for the suspended Didier Zokora and Salomon Kalou for Max Gradel. Greek coach Fernando Santos made three changes with Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Dimitris Salpingidis and Girogos Kara- gounis all starting. Neither team did much in the early going but Santos had to make two early substitutions, Panagiotis Kone leaving with a back thigh problem in favour of Samaris af- ter 12 minutes and keeper Ores- tis Karnezis giving in to a back problem with Panagiotis Glykos coming on. The first dangerous chance came after 33 minutes. Sa- maris played forward right of goal to Jose Holebas, who streaked past the Ivorian defence and unleashed a blast from just outside the area off the crossbar. Greece added a set piece a minute later but Ivorian keeper Boubacar Barry got down to save Karagounis' low-shot free kick. The Europeans grabbed the lead three minutes before the break as Samaris snatched a lazy pass in the backfield by Cheik Tiote, played a give-and-go with Samaras and then lifted his shot over Barry for the 1-0 lead. Ivory Coast came out of the dressing room as the better team and were close to equalising in the 49th minute but Glykos held firm- ly Tiote's blast. The Greeks regained control and had the better chances with Chris- todoulopoulos shooting wide after 53 minutes and Barry doing well to bat Salpingidis's blast over the bar five minutes later. Karagounis was the second Greek player to rattle a blast off the crossbar, unleashing a 35 yard hammer off the woodwork in the 68th minute. But it was the Africans who found the back of the net in the 74th minute as a ball went to Gervinho who passed from the left side to Bony for a one-time past Glykos. Greece found only the wood- work yet again in the 80th minute as Vassilis Torosidis hit the right post. The Greeks refused to give up and ended up winning on Samar- as's heroics. Late penalty gives Greece win, first ever spot in last 16 Georgios Samaras converted a penalty three minutes into injury time to give Greece their first win at the 2014 World Cup - 2-1 over Ivory Coast - as well as their first ever spot in the knock-out stages of a finals Georgios Samaras (L) of Greece scores the winning goal by penalty. Photo by EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO Colombia beat Japan 4-1 to set up last-16 match with Uruguay Colombia beat Japan 4-1 on Tuesday in their final Group C game, setting up a match against Uruguay in the last 16 of the World Cup Japan ............................ 1 Colombia ....................... 4 JUAN Cuadrado successfully con- verted a penalty in the 17th minute after Yasuyuki Konno downed Adri- an Ramos in the box. Shinji Okazaki equalized for Japan just before half-time, converting a cross into the box from Keisuke Hon- da with a diving header. Jackson Martinez rifled in Colom- bia's second goal low to the left of Eiji Kawashima after a cross inside the area from James Rodriguez. The 22-year-old who plays for French side Monaco set up Martin- ez again in the 83rd minute and the Porto striker scored his second and Colombia's third goal to seal Japan's fate. Martinez made it 4-1 in the last minute of the game to put Colom- bia safely top of Group C. He calmly chipped in the ball over Kawashima with his left foot from inside the box, setting off celebrations from Colom- bian fans at Arena Pantanal in the central city of Cuiaba. Japan had at least three good chanc- es to score in the first half as they pushed hard for a chance to qualify. Yoshito Okubo intercepted a long pass into the Colombian box, made a turn past a defender but his left- footed shot went off target. Makoto Hasebe had a shot on tar- get saved by David Ospina. Shinji Kagawa also had a chance, turning past Eder Balanta and rifling a shot on goal that was parried by Ospina. Honda then had a brilliant free-kick brush the post after Fredy Guarin was yellow-carded for a foul, which ended a counter attack by seven Japanese players against three Colombians. Adrian Ramos produced Colom- bia's best chance to make it 2-0 in the first half, making a fast run right of the Japanese box and crossing back to Martinez, who missed to the left. Okubo missed a chance to make it 2-2 in the second half, sending a right-wing pass from Atsuto Uchida just over the bar, and Yuto Nagamoto had two shots on goal saved by Os- pina. Colombia, who won 3-0 against Greece in the first game, made eight changes to their line-up against Ja- pan from the previous encounter with Ivory Coast, which the South Americans won 2-1. Greece beat Ivory Coast 2-1 to fin- ish second and make it to the last 16, where they face Costa Rica in Recife on Sunday, while Colombia can look forward to playing at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro against Uruguay on Saturday. Santiago Arias of Colombia (L) and Yuto Nagatomo of Japan. Photo by EPA/JOSE COELHO Ivory Coast 1. Boubacar Barry, 17. Serge Aurier, 4. Kolo Toure, 22. Sol Bamba, 3. Arthur Boka, 20. Serey Die, 9. Cheick Tiote 61', 8. Salomon Kalou, 19. Yaya Toure, 10. Gervinho 83', 11. Didier Drogba 78' Subs 16. Sylvain Gbohou, 2. Ousmane Viera, 5. Didier Zokora, 6. Mathis Bolly,7. Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro, 12. Wilfried Bony 61', 13. Didier Ya Konan, 14. Ismael Diomande 78', 15. Max Gradel, 18. Constant Djakpa, 21. Giovanni Sio 83', 23. Sayouba Mande Greece 1. Orestis Karnezis 24', 15. Vasilis Torosidis, 19. Sokratis Papastath- opoulos, 4. Kostas Manolas,20. Jose Holebas,16. Lazaros Christodou- lopoulos, 2. Giannis Maniatis, 10. Giorgos Karagounis 77',8. Panagiotis Kone 12', 14. Dimitris Salpingidis, 7. Georgios Samaras Subs 12. Panagiotis Glykos 24', 3. Georgios Tzavellas, 5. Vangelis Moras, 6. Alex- andros Tziolis,9. Kostas Mitroglou, 11. Loukas Vyntra,17. Theofanis Gekas 77', 18. Giannis Fetfatzidis,21. Kostas Katsouranis, 22. Andreas Samaris 12', 23. Panagiotis Tachtsidis, 13. Stefanos Kapino Japan 1. Eiji Kawashima, 2. Atsuto Uchida, 22. Maya Yoshida, 15. Yasuyuki Konno, 5. Yuto Nagatomo, 9. Shinji Okazaki 69',14. Toshihiro Aoyama 62',17. Ma- koto Hasebe, 10. Shinji Kagawa 85', 4. Keisuke Honda, 13. Yoshito Okubo Subs 12. Shusaku Nishikawa, 3. Gotoku Sakai, 6. Masato Morishige, 7. Yas- uhito Endo, 8. Hiroshi Kiyotake 85', 11. Yoichiro Kakitani 69', 16. Hotaru Yamaguchi 62', 18. Yuya Osako, 19. Masahiko Inoha, 20. Manabu Saito, 21. Hiroki Sakai, 23. Shuichi Gonda Colombia 1. David Ospina 85', 4. Santiago Arias, 23. Carlos Valdes, 16. Eder Balanta, 7. Pablo Armero, 11. Juan Cuadrado 46', 15. Alexander Mejia, 13. Fredy Guarin, 20. Juan Quintero 46', 21. Jackson Martinez, 19. Adrian Ramos Subs 12. Camilo Vargas, 2. Cristian Zapata, 3. Mario Yepes, 5. Carlos Carbonero 46', 6. Carlos Sanchez, 8. Abel Aguilar, 9. Teofi lo Gutierrez, 10. James Rod- riguez 46', 14. Victor Ibarbo, 18. Juan Camilo Zuniga, 22. Faryd Mondragon 85'