10 thrilling late goals scored in World Cups

#8 Georgios Samaras vs Ivory Coast, 2014

Samaras' last-minute penalty took Greece to the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time in their history

Greece and Ivory Coast were both featuring in their third World Cup, in 2014, and were eager to mark their entry in the knockout stages for the first time. Both sides were placed in the same group alongside dark horses Colombia and Japan.

While Greece began with a 3-0 loss to Colombia, Les Elephants had to come from behind to beat Japan 2-1. In their next game, Ivory Coast were beaten 2-1 by Colombia and Greece were held to a 0-0 draw by Japan.

With the final leg of group games approaching, Colombia had already qualified for the last 16 with two wins out of two. Ivory Coast were in second place with 3 points and a draw against Greece would be enough to send them to the next stage provided Japan didn’t beat Colombia. Japan had to win to progress while Greece needed Colombia to beat Japan while winning their own game.

When Ivory Coast faced Greece, it was the first meeting between the two sides in an international match. Greece drew first blood when substitute Andreas Samaris took advantage of some poor Ivorian defending to put Greece 1-0 up.

However, Wilfried Bony silenced Greek fans by scoring the equalizer in the 73rd minute. With just over a minute of injury time left, Ivorian striker fouled Georgios Samaras in the penalty area in the dying seconds of the match. Samaras converted the penalty and Greece won 2-1, thus qualifying for the last 16 for the first time in their history as Colombia had already beaten Japan 4-1.