Santos wants Greek dream to continue

RECIFE, Brazil, June 29, (AFP): Greece coach Fernando Santos has encouraged his team to "create history" as they aim to stretch their World Cup run into the quarter-finals by beating Costa Rica on Sunday.
Greece squeezed into the knockout phase for the first time in their history after a last-gasp Georgios Samaras penalty secured a decisive 2-1 win over Ivory Coast last week.
"This is an opportunity for us to go on and create history," said 59-year-old Portuguese Santos, who built a solid reputation coaching Greek giants AEK, Panathinaikos and PAOK before taking over the national reins in 2010.
But Santos, whose contract with the Greek federation will end in the coming days, admits passage to the last eight won't be easy.
Costa Rica's blend of pacy, counter-attacking football helped them upset predictions by winning Group D following wins over Uruguay and Italy and a scoreless draw against England.
And the central Americans are expected to benefit from plenty of local support, on top of their large travelling army of fans, when Sunday's game kicks off in Recife.