FORTALEZA
Sabri
Lamouchi resigned as Ivory Coast coach minutes after his side had their
hopes of reaching the World Cup second round dashed by a late penalty
giving Greece a 2-1 victory in Fortleza on Tuesday.
Greece took their place instead in the last 16 and Lamouchi said he had to draw the consequences of that failure for his future.
"My
contract comes to an end at this World Cup and there will be no
epilogue and you can understand well as to why," said the 42-year-old
Frenchman.
"It is logical as we did not do well at last year's Africa Cup of Nations or at the World Cup finals."
Georgios
Samaras's dramatic injury-time penalty took Greece into the World Cup
last 16 for the first time on Tuesday as they grabbed a 2-1 win which
sent Ivory Coast crashing out.
Samaras, brought down by
Giovanni Sio in the 91st minute, bravely stepped up to convert past a
flailing Boubacar Barry before being mobbed by his team-mates.
It
proved the last act of a thrilling Group C finale which Greece had led
following Andreas Samaris's strike near half-time, before Wilfried Bony
equalised.
The Swansea City striker's goal looked
enough to take Ivory Coast through but Samaras's penalty lifted Greece
from bottom place to second, thanks also to Colombia's 4-1 win over
Japan.
Samaras's goal brought a cruel end to the
tournament for Ivory Coast's Yaya and Kolo Toure, who were playing
despite the death of their brother from cancer last week.
Veteran striker Didier Drogba took over captaincy duties from Yaya Toure as he made his first start of the World Cup.
And
they combined for the Ivory Coast's first dangerous moment but the
Manchester City man's pass into the box was too heavy for the
36-year-old Galatasary striker's ageing legs to run on to.
Greece
were forced into early changes when goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis came
off with a back problem and midfielder Samaris replaced Panagiotis Kone,
who went down holding his hamstring.
Ivory Coast were
having trouble breaking down the compact Greeks and the Euro 2004
champions fired a warning when they quickly broke forward and Jose
Holebas rattled the crossbar.
Georgios Karagounis,
making his 139th apperance for the Greeks, then profited from
indifferent defending when he blasted a low free-kick past the Ivory
Coast wall but straight at Copa.
Greece's opener, three
minutes before half-time, stemmed from a mix-up when Samaras pounced on
a loose pass by Cheick Tiote and fed Samaris who steadied himself and
finished coolly.
Samaris was then on hand at the other
end to deny Yaya Toure after he evaded two challenges and galloped into
the Greek box, only to see his shot blocked by the midfielder.
Lazaros
Christodoulopoulos had a shot deflected off-target early in the second
half and Tiote then thumped one at replacement Greek goalkeeper
Panagiotis Glyko.
A retreating Ivorian defence invited
Christodoulopoulos to shoot once again but his shot from the edge of the
area missed to the left.
The Greek defending was far more adroit and Konstantinos Manoloas slid in sharply to deny Salomon Kalou as he prepared to shoot.
Barry had to get everything behind a fierce drive from Dimitrios Salpingidis as Greece continued to threaten.
And
another Greek break had the Ivorians in trouble, forcing Kalou into a
last-ditch foul on Vasileios Torosidis at the expense of a yellow card.
Karagounis
was inches from one of the goals of the tournament when his sensational
long-range shot smashed off the crossbar, leaving the Fulham midfielder
shaking his head.
With 16 minutes left, a Greek
victory looked a formality but Bony, who came on for Tiote just after
the hour-mark, had other ideas.
The Swansea City
striker received a cute sideways pass in the box from Gervinho and he
made no mistake with his first-time finish past Glyko.
The
Greeks were going out and with time running short, Vasileios Torosidis
tried his luck with a speculative shot from a tight angle which slammed
off the near post.
Salpingidis's cross ran across the
face of goal as Greece pressed. And they finally got their reward when
Sio, brought on just minutes earlier for Gervinho, upended Samaras.
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