This time the Greek National Team played good football proving even to the most sceptical that it does not lack talent. Greek footballers played with passion, desire, strength and dedication. All these elements that characterize this team. But this time they also showed that they can play quality football.

Greece started off willing to break the goalless streak and score early in the game. At the same time, Ivory Coast didn’t seem to worry about protecting the tie and looked to breach Karnezis’ goal. However the first two major incidents of the game were the injuries of Orestis Karnezis and Panayotis Kone, leaving Fernando Santos with just one substitution for the remaining 65′.

Cholevas struck the horizontal post on the 34th minute with an amazing shot outside the box, followed by a shot by Karagounis from the foul, which ended up in the Ivory Coast keeper’s hands.

In the 42nd minute, the  golden substitute, Andreas Samaris placed the ball past the Ivory Coast keeper, opening the score-line for Greece at 1-0!

Karagounis continued to put on a show, with a far-struck speeder of a shot that hit the horizontal post once more at the 58th minute.

This was quickly followed by Christodoulopoulos’ free kick that barely grazed the top of the bar, ending in a goal kick.

Sadly in the 74th minute Bony Wilfried, Swansea’s striker, equalized for the Ivory Coast team.

Five minutes later, Torosidis crossed the ball in, but it hit the vertical post once more, making it the third time in one night that a Greek goal has been stopped by nothing but bad luck.

In the 87th minute, Salpingidis once more reached a hair’s breadth away from a goal, but was off the mark.

But in the 93rd minute, Samaras, the hero of the Greek national team, won a penalty. He placed it to the right hand side of the keeper, giving Greece a lead 2-1 deep after the 90th minute and sending every Greek football fan to the seventh heaven!

Greek national team may not have the talent and energy of the other teams, but it proved that it has an excellent tactic, as it showed at Euro 2004. It knows how to move in the field, to defend with passion and take advantage of its own capabilities.

After the historic win, Giorgos Samaras, stated “I hope we made Greeks happy during these difficult times” and when he was asked about whether he will be the next leader of the team he answered that “there are no leaders in the national team or superstars, we are a group of players ready to help each other. We continue as a team”.

“I’m very proud of my first goal in the World Cup. We won fair and square,”said Andreas Samaris.

“It was what we wanted from the beginning. We achieved what we had never achieved before,” said Giorgos Karagounis.

“Thank God, after the celebrations of St. John we will be here for St. Peter’s celebrations” said the coach Fernando Santos after the match.

Talking about the match with Costa Rica he said that “I do not know what will happen in the next match. We will play and see. I am not a man who lives on the edge. I am modest. When we lose, I get upset, but when we win, I have my feet on the ground”.

He also said to Greeks to go out and celebrate.