Klaas Jan Huntelaar kept his cool in the heat of Fortaleza to score an injury-time penalty as the Netherlands came from behind to beat Mexico 2-1 in the round of 16 at the World Cup. The Schalke striker fired home a penalty to put the Dutch through to the quarter-finals of the World Cup as they inflicted an agonising defeat on Mexico who were within two minutes of an historic win, leading through Giovani dos Santos' excellent strike. Wesley Sneijder's blistering volley pulled Holland level before Arjen Robben won a penalty and substitute Huntelaar smashed it home to make it 2-1 and send the Dutch fans into ecstasy. It was familiar misery for Mexico - it is now six consecutive World Cups where they have been knocked out at this stage of the tournament. This time it had seemed the elements were on their side. It was 30 degrees C and 70 per cent humidity meaning that FIFA's limit had been passed allowing for official cooling and drinks breaks midway through each half.
Costa Rica are through to their first ever quarter-final after recovering from a second-half red card, a late Greece leveller and an extra-time barrage to progress 5-3 on penalties. Costa Rica have been one of the tournament's surprise package, overcoming Uruguay and Italy before holding England to a goalless draw as they won Group D. That dream run continued in Recife on Sunday as they rode their luck against Greece to win a tense clash at the Arena Pernambuco, triumphing 5-3 on penalties to set-up a quarter-final clash against the Dutch. The Central Americans came into this match in the unusual role as favourites and looked to be wilting under the pressure, with only an exquisite stop by goalkeeper Keylor Navas stopping Dimitris Salpingidis from giving Greece a first-half lead. Los Ticos were struggling to replicate the form they had shown in the group stage but managed to open the scoring with their first shot on target, as Bryan Ruiz fired home in the 52nd minute. Costa Rica should have had a penalty soon after and were reduced to 10 men after 66 minutes, with Oscar Duarte's sending-off eventually telling in stoppage-time as Sokratis Papastathopoulos struck to take the match into extra-time. There was to be no separating the sides in those 30 minutes, though, and, after Greece coach Fernando Santos was sent to the stands, the match was decided on spot-kicks, with Navas saving Theofanis Gekas' penalty before Michael Umana scored the decider.
