It was only two minutes, but for him it became two centuries. At that moment, he remembered that he had no sense of time. As Keylor Navas raised his right hand and made a fist before crossing himself, a ‘Greek god’ fell helplessly to the grass.
Then came the euphoria, the joy for the entire country, when Michael Umaña scored his penalty in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and the National Team advanced to the quarterfinals, while Greece was eliminated at the hands of the surprising Costa Rica. Keylor Navas saved Theofanis Gekas’ shot from the white spot and was the architect of eliminating the Greeks.
“I sat on the grass, lost. I covered my face with my shirt. All my teammates came to console me and, finally, Giorgos Tzavellas was the one who picked me up and carried me in his arms to the locker room. If Giorgos had not lifted me up, maybe he would still be there,” recalled Theofanis Gekas in an interview with Greek sports websites, Repress and Athlete Stories.
Gekas added that he locked himself in a room for two hours. He closed the door and no one could get in. He didn’t know what was going on around him, he didn’t even say hello to Fernando Santos, who was Greece’s coach at Brazil 2014. After those two hours, he returned to the hotel. He took out his cell phone and had a lot of messages from friends and acquaintances, but he didn’t want to read them. He saw them after a few days. They were words of support and encouragement from everyone.
READ MORE: Brazil 2014: The happy life in Costa Pobre
“For approximately two months, I closed my ears to everything. I didn’t read anything, I didn’t watch anything, I didn’t listen to anything. My family and my children helped me isolate myself, forget myself. I don’t know if it’s the worst moment of my career or my life, I know it’s the worst situation I’ve been in as a footballer. For the first time, I felt so bad. It took me more than a year to recover, to calm down, to be able to say that -now- I left it all behind. Because it was something that affected me a lot. It was a phase, a moment that continually presented itself to me, like a nightmare,” Theofanis Gekas expressed to Repress.
Penalties
Until that night of June 29, in far-off Recife, in a career spanning almost 15 years, Gekas had only missed one penalty, in a match between Panathinaikos and Aris. He had 16 successful attempts in 17. Against Keylor Navas, it was only the second.
“All of this was so overwhelming that the following season, in Turkey with Akhisar, I took 4 or 5 penalties and missed them all! And, since then, I have not taken them again. The coaches encouraged me to do it, I never did! It is a moment, a fact that I think I will never forget, no matter how many years pass,” said the former Greece striker.
Theofanis Gekas recalled the match against Costa Rica. The national team was reduced to 10 men and the striker thought that they could have won in regulation time or in extra time, which in the end did not happen.
“We chose the order at that moment. I was the fourth to throw. My turn came. Until that moment, all the players, teammates and rivals, had scored. I placed the ball and went back a few meters. Throughout my career, I never had a fixed preference. Sometimes he threw low, sometimes a little higher, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left.
“I took a deep breath and looked at both corners. I chose Navas’ right and shot at mid-height, without the slightest hesitation. My ex-teammate ‘played the lottery’ and made a save! Why do I say it? Because I shot hard already at the corner. He didn’t guess me. I don’t think he even saw the ball. He also chose a side, he jumped at random. He simply stretched out his arm. That’s why I say I didn’t fail, he saved! By chance, yes, but he did it! In short, I took the perfect penalty! And he made the perfect save!” Gekas highlighted.
“I shot hard and into the corner. He didn’t guess me. I don’t think he even saw the ball. He also chose a side, he dived at random. He just stretched out his arm. That’s why I say I didn’t miss, he saved it!” Theofanis Gekas recalled of that moment 10 years ago, when Keylor Navas saved his penalty in Brazil 2014. (Martin Meissner)
Gekas said that after the match many things were said that, according to him, were not true.
“It was said that he knew me from Levante, that he knew how I executed from the penalty spot. None of that is true. In our time together on the Spanish team, I didn’t take a single penalty! Not in a match, not even in training! In six months there, I didn’t put the ball on the penalty spot, not even as a joke! Therefore, I knew him more, because I saw him in training and in games, than he knew me,” Gekas said.
In an interview he recently gave to Yashin Quesada, director of the program Sports Meeting, Keylor confirmed what the former Greece striker said.
“It was incredible. Honestly, she hit him so hard that I didn’t see the ball and only felt when he hit my hand. People said that, since we were teammates in Levante, I already knew how to throw it and the truth is I had no idea. I didn’t remember how he kicked, I just chose the stronger side of him which was the right side and I lunged and stopped him. In the end I got up and celebrated it to heaven, I thanked God,” commented Keylor Navas.
The unbearable “after”
Then, Navas made a save. The Costa Ricans in the stands celebrated and the moment came when everything went black for Gekas. The days after the penalty ruling were torment for Gekas. He felt dejected, guilty and with the responsibility of the elimination on his shoulders. He took refuge in silence, walked away from football and focused on his family to try to overcome the trauma. Despite the bitter end, Theofanis Gekas remains an important figure in the history of Greek football. His goals, his dedication and his leadership made him an idol for the fans. The missed penalty against Costa Rica is a stain on his record, but it does not define his successful career.
Gekas ended his playing career three years after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. He played for Sivasspor in Turkey and hung up his boots. In 2021, he began his coaching career and is currently the coach of Tilikratis FC, a team in the third division of Greece.
This is how Theofanis Gekas reacted after missing his penalty on June 29, 2014 against Keylor Navas at the World Cup in Brazil. He covered his face with his shirt while Navas crossed himself and thanked God. (MAST IRHAM)
