Costa Rican Joy and Lágrimas Mexicanas

Arjen Robben is awarded a late penalty for tripping
on something, most likely a blade of grass.

Costa Rica was a perfect 5 for 5 in a penalty shootout victory over Greece and have advanced to the quarterfinals.  Mexico was a few minutes away from beating the Netherlands but were unable to hold on to their lead and gave up two heartbreaking goals in the last 5 minutes.  It is the fifth consecutive World Cup that Mexico has lost in the round of 16.

El Tri dominated the first half but were unable to score before the break.  They changed that with a goal just after the restart and were holding on through more heroics from their goalie Memo Ochoa when the Netherlands scored through a blistering strike by Wesley Sneijder.  Then a controversial penalty was awarded and Mexico was sent home from the round of 16 once again.  Costa Rica were reduced to 10 men when defender Oscar Duarte was sent off for getting his second yellow card early in the second half.  They were leading 1-0 at the time and held on to their lead until the 90th minute when Greece finally broke through.  In extra time, no one was able to score and the game went to penalties where the exhausted Costa Ricans were perfect.

The results sent Rodrigo back to first place and Rick into second.  Carol Barrera entered the top ten again based on the Netherlands result, although she and Rodrigo would have preferred to see Mexico continue.  Sadly, the losses for Mexico and Greece mean that Dawn, Dan and Emilie have now had all of their teams eliminated.