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FORTALEZA, Brazil -- Georgios Samaras scored an injury-time penalty to send Greece into the second round of the World Cup for the first time with a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast on Tuesday, eliminating the Africans in the process. Samaras was adjudged to have been tripped in the area by substitute Giovanni Sio, and calmly slotted in the spot kick for a win that puts Greece through to the knockout stage. Ivory Coast would have advanced with a draw. "This means so much to me, to us ... Tonight we had energy," Samaras said, dedicating the win to Greeks suffering through financial crisis. "We really hope we can make the people happy back home. We are a team. A team -- thats it." In Athens, where the game ended well after midnight, thousands of fans poured into the streets to celebrate. The players in Fortaleza danced around in a circle and sang with small groups of travelling fans at Arena Castelao who had been drowned out all night by the pro-African Brazilian crowd. The Greeks had taken the lead just before halftime through substitute Andreas Samaris, who punished Ivorian Ismael Tiote for a careless pass backward. Substitute Wilfried Bony equalized for Ivory Coast in the 74th, beating goalkeeper Pangiotis Glykos from close range after being set up by Gervinho. That goal looked like it would put the Africans through until the late drama. Samaras met a cross in the area and tried to shoot with his left leg, which got caught against the leg of Sio. Samaras foot then hit the ground and he fell to the turf, drawing a penalty. With his countrys hopes on the line, Samaras sent his spot kick past goalkeeper Boubacar Barry, who guessed the right way but couldnt keep the ball out. "We came here to advance from the group stage. Weve never done it before, and we did tonight in a great way," said Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis, a veteran of the team that won the European Championship in 2004. "The goal should have come earlier. So God helped us in the end and we all thank him. We prevailed against the odds. We had passion and we had fight." Veteran striker Didier Drogba started for Ivory Coast along with Yaya and Kolo Toure despite the recent death of their brother Ibrahim. The Ivorians wore black armbands as a sign of mourning. "The Ivory Coast is a great football nation. And this was a cruel game, a cruel game," Ivory Coast coach Sabri Lamouchi said. "After so much hard work and so much sacrifice, all of us and everyone in the Ivory Coast is very sad." Greece, which had failed to score in the previous two Group C matches, finished second in Group C with four points, behind winner Colombia with nine. Ivory Coast had three and Japan one. On Tuesday, the Greeks missed a handful of scoring chances against Ivory Coast, hitting the crossbar twice with shots from distance. The Greeks were also forced to make two early substitutions after valuable midfielder Pangiotis Kone and goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis were injured in the first half. "We found balance tonight. We are not the worst team when we lose or the best when we win," Greece coach Fernando Santos said. "To everyone in Greece I say: Go out into the street and celebrate." ------ Lineups: Greece: Orestis Karnezis (Panagiotis Glykos, 24), Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Kostas Manolas, Jose Holebas, Vassilis Torosidis, Giannis Maniatis, Panagiotis Kone (Andreas Samaris, 12), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Giorgos Karagounis (Fanis Gekas, 77), Georgios Samaras, Dimitris Salpingidis. Ivory Coast: Baboucar Barry, Souleymane Bamba, Arthur Boka, Kolo Toure, Serge Aurier, Ismael Tiote (Wilfried Bony, 61), Yaya Toure, Die Serey, Didier Drogba (Ismaael Diomande, 78), Solomon Kalou, Gervinho (Giovanno Sio, 83). Bryse Wilson Braves Jersey . Austin Watson, Scott Ford, Filip Forsberg and Mark Van Guilder had the other goals for the Admirals (30-21-12). Scott Darling made 30 saves for his 10th win of the season. Tyler Flowers Jersey . At times during a solid but not spectacular season, they looked all three. Still the defending AFC champions persevered, riding their top-ranked defence and key contributions from younger players to a 12-4 record and their eighth playoff appearance since 2000, remarkable consistency in a league where change is the only constant. https://www.cheapbraves.com/2593o-mike-f...y-braves.html.C. -- Jackson Whistle made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season as the Kelowna Rockets blanked the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-0 on Saturday in Western Hockey League action. Nick Markakis Jersey . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins (5) – He was locked in all night, made huge stops on Benoit Pouliot, Raphael Diaz, Ryan Mcdonagh, Carl Hagelin, Rick Nash (twice) but none better than the three saves on Mats Zuccarello. Jacob Webb Braves Jersey . "Youre not really spending time to sit back and analyze what your competitions doing and things like that," Anthopoulos said. "Youre so focused on what were trying to get done." Ultimately, while the landscape around them changed with trades both major and minor, the Blue Jays did nothing before Thursdays non-waiver deadline.TSN Hockey Insiders Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun have the latest on Jason Spezzas future, the Kings plans for Mike Richards, possible destinations for Vincent Lecavalier, Dan Boyle, Bob Nicholson, and more. Bryan Murray made an announcement after the GMs meetings - and as was reported by Pierre LeBrun a couple of weeks ago - that Jason Spezza wants a trade out of Ottawa. Whats the latest on that? Pierre LeBrun: Yes, he made it public. As you said, we talked about this for a couple of weeks but I think that Murray felt compelled to stop playing around with this. Its not a rumour. Jason Spezza wants out and Murray has taken calls from other teams. Nothing is imminent, and Murray believes that things will heat up around the draft. But in any package for Spezza, he wants a player that helps them now plus some futures - it will be a high asking price. The Stanley Cup Final is on but GMs are already focusing about next season. We expect Brad Richards to be bought out by the New York Rangers - what about Mike Richards by L.A.? Darren Dreger: Well the Los Angeles Kings dont plan on buying out Mike Richards because then they would have to replace him. But Mike Richards doesnt want to be a fourth-line centre next year for the Kings. The Kings are expected to push Richards in the off-season to improve his conditions and get a little bit stronger. But we also know that Richards is a strong and confident young man and he may not want to follow the path that the Kings want him to follow. So this could get very interesting. Is current Philadelphia Flyer Vincent Lecavalier soon to be an ex-Flyer? Dreger: Hes a fourth-line forward making $4.5 million and I cant believe that Ron Hextall is going to want to pay him that. So the word on the street is yes, Lecavalier most definitely is in play. But keep in mind that he has a no-move clause. I know that his agent Kent Hughes has already talked to Hextall about the possibility of moving his client. There are no specific teams yet, theres no list, but if they want to move him they are going to have to go to Vinny and identify a specific place. LeBrun: To the disappointment of many teams, one player who is not on the move is Shea Weber and Im not sure why.dddddddddddd For whatever reason, his name pops up all the time as a trade target. David Poile, the GM of the Predators, after the meeting on Wednesday said, "I am never trading Shea Weber." Hes not going anywhere, theyre building their team around him...thats the end of it. Dan Boyles rights are owned right now by the New York Islanders. But could he end up a Toronto Maple Leaf? Dreger: The Toronto Maple Leafs are high on Dan Boyles list. Hes expected to alert Islanders GM Garth Snow at some point this week as to whether or not he intends to negotiate with the Islanders with the possibility of staying there after New York made the trade for his negotiating rights. I know that the Islanders have already made an offer but there is no negotiation. Boyle wants a two-year deal, and the money might be more than the Leafs are willing to pay but they definitely have interest. LeBrun: Speaking of money, the Chicago Blackhawks are going to open the vault again for Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Chicago GM Stan Bowman told us today that he wants them signed by July 1. He has to set up his entire off-season and his cap room by knowing how much these guys will make. Hes optimistic that these deals will get done shortly between now and July 1. Bob Nicholson has left Hockey Canada, but we will find out shortly what his new job is going to be. Dreger: Yes, very soon news will break that Bob Nicholson is jumping into the National Hockey League. He left Hockey Canada and will join the high ranks of an NHL team in a high executive capacity - above the level of president and below that of an NHL owner. But hes joining the NHL. The NHL GMs discussed the draft lottery and possibly changing the odds, but is there no consensus just yet? LeBrun: Well it was sort of a confusing day. We spoke to Tim Murray of the Buffalo Sabres who said he was relieved, because he has three first-round draft picks in 2015 and his understanding is there wont be changes to the lottery before then. But we heard from league sources that its still possible that Bill Daly and commissioner Gary Bettman will make a proposal to the Board of Governors in less than two weeks. So its up in the air at this point. ' ' '