offseason, Matt Niskanen, who signed with Washington for seven years a

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). Atlanta Braves Shirts .com) - Scott Parel carded a 5-under 65 on Thursday and he grabbed a 1-stroke lead after one round of the season-opening Panama Claro Championship. Braves Jerseys China . JOHNS, N. https://www.cheapbraves.com/ . "If we only consider this season," Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini said, "there is just one club in Manchester -- and its ours. Francisco Cervelli Braves Jersey . A player confirmed to TSN on the condition of anonymity that he received his ballot yesterday. Another confirms hes been told to expect his shortly. "The unions executive committee insists a strike vote does not mean were pushing away from the table," the player said. "But we want the league to know were serious about our position. Fake Braves Jerseys . Ellis had a season-high 37 points and two key assists late, Dirk Nowitzki led a fourth-quarter rally with 14 of his 35 points, and the Mavericks spoiled Howards best offensive night in Houston with a 123-120 victory over the Rockets on Wednesday night.WASHINGTON - Dustin Tokarski gets the start in goal for the Montreal Canadiens tonight as they look for a second straight win to start the season against the Washington Capitals. For the Caps, new head coach Barry Trotz is making his debut behind the Washington bench. You can listen to all the action on TSN Radio 690 beginning with the pre-game show at 5:30pm et. The Canadiens are beginning the season on a four-game road trip and were able to pick up a win in Wednesdays opener in Toronto. Tomas Plekanec had two goals, including the game-winner off a defensemans skate with 42.9 seconds remaining that gave the Habs a 4-3 win over the rival Maple Leafs. We played the game that we wanted to in the offensive zone, and were happy about the win, said Plekanec. Obviously, it was the first game of the season in Toronto. Were happy we were able to come away with the two points. Montreal, which lost to the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference finals last spring, snapped a four-year losing streak to the Maple Leafs in season-openers. P.A. Parenteau notched two assists in his Montreal debut after coming over from Colorado during the offseason in exchange for fellow forward Danny Briere. Max Pacioretty and P.K. Subban each posted a goal in the victory and Alexei Emelin also chipped in two assists. Carey Price stopped 24 shots for the win, but will get Thursday night off as backup Tokarski gets his first start of the season. Tokarski took over the reins for Price in last years conference finals when Price went down with a season-ending knee injury and did a superb job of keeping Montreal in the series even if New York went on to win the set in six games. Tokarski was a surprise replacement for Price in the playoffs since it was Peter Budaj who was listed as No. 2 on the depth chart at the time of the injury. Budaj saw action in 24 regular season games in 2013-14 compared to only three appearances for the 25-year-old Tokarski. However, Montreal traded Budaj to Winnipeg before the start of the season, clearing the way for Tokarski to take over the backup role. The Canadiens are making one line-up change for tonight, adding Travis Moen in place of Dale Weise. After missing the playoffs for the first time since 2007, and by just three points, the Capitals shook things up again by not renewing the contract of general manager George McPhee and firing head coach Adam Oates. It wasnt a total makeoover as Washington stayed within to replace McPhee by promoting Brian MacLellan from his assistant general manager role, while Oates was canned after two seasons and replaced with the respected Trotz.dddddddddddd The Capitals are banking that Trotz is finally the defensive mind that the franchise needs and scooped him up after his 15-year run as coach of the Nashville Predators came to an end. Defense and Trotz went hand-and-hand in Nashville as the club always seemed to find a way into the playoffs despite missing the kind of explosive offense that fuels the Capitals. It will be interesting to see how Trotz handles a player like Alexander Ovechkin, an offensive talent that has won the Rocket Richard Trophy as the leagues leading goal scorer four times but finished last season at minus-35, third-worst in the league. Washington has seemingly struggled for season after season trying to improve its defense and only had a goal differential of minus-5 last season, but that meant little after the club just missed out on a playoff spot. The Capitals defensive group saw the addition of one of the top free agent blueliners of this past offseason, Matt Niskanen, who signed with Washington for seven years and $40.25 million. MacLellan also gave Trotz a gritty veteran piece at the blue line in Brooks Orpik, who should have a tough time living up to his five-year, $27.5 million deal. While Niskanen and Orpik will debut tonight for the Caps, fellow defenseman Mike Green expects to be a game-time decision for Washington due to an upper- body injury. Braden Holtby expects to get the start in net tonight and the 25-year-old goaltender could be one of the biggest benefactors of the coaching change. Holtby struggled when Oates had him change his positioning and game plan between the pipes and that led to his goals against average rising from 2.58 the previous season to 2.85 in 2013-14. Holtby went 2-0 in two games against the Canadiens last season and is 5-0 with a 0.98 GAA in five career outings versus Montreal. The Caps won two of three against Montreal last season and have taken four of five and 10 of the past 12 meetings. The Canadiens have dropped eight of their last 12 games in D.C. The Canadiens will continue their season-opening trek Saturday in Philadelphia before closing the swing Monday in Tampa. Montreal will play its first home game next Thursday against the Boston Bruins. ' ' '