Joel Campbell’s early goal sent Costa Rica to the World Cup for a third successive tournament as they edged past 10-man New Zealand 1-0 in their intercontinental playoff on Tuesday and secured the last place at the finals in Qatar.
The former Arsenal striker scored after three minutes for Costa Rica as he squeezed between two defenders to touch home a square pass from Jewison Bennette with the New Zealand defence slow to react.
But New Zealand will feel hard done by after having an equaliser chalked off by VAR for a foul in the build-up to Chris Wood putting the ball in the back of the net in the 39th minute.
A check found that Matthew Garbett had fouled Oscar Duarte in what looked a harsh decision.
A VAR check also led to a 69th-minute red card for Kosta Barbarouses, leaving the Kiwis down to 10 men.
"We had a chance to score early on and then we struggled," said Costa Rica coach Luis Fernando at the post-match press conference.
"We knew what their assets were. We knew we’d struggle with their aerial balls. We had to make a change at halftime to have greater possession of the ball and a line of five in defence. That proved key."
The playoff between the fourth-placed team in the CONCACAF region and the Oceania confederation winner, at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, brought to an end the qualifying campaign for the 2022 finals in Qatar, which run from Nov. 21-Dec. 18.
Costa Rica qualified for a sixth World Cup in total and will compete in Group E at the finals against Germany, Japan and Spain.
Campbell’s goal had some 6,000 travelling supporters, out of a crowd of 10,803, on their feet but did not precipitate the expected dominant performance from the central American team.
Instead it was New Zealand who looked the more enterprising of the teams, with centre forward Wood, who was constantly watched by a cautious Costa Rican defence, the target of their attacks.
Alex Greive and Garbett also had chances in the first half but their shooting was off target.
Three changes by Costa Rica at halftime lifted them out of their slumber but it was still New Zealand who showed more attacking enterprise in the second half but without any return.
Costa Rica goalkeeper Kaylor Navas made a good stop in the 76th minute from Clayton Lewis as New Zealand toiled in search of an equaliser with Costa Rica sitting back and absorbing the pressure until the final whistle set off joyous celebrations.
"I thought we were by far the better team," said disappointed New Zealand coach Danny Hay.
New Zealand coach Hay lashes out at ref, VAR after World Cup exit
New Zealand coach Danny Hay criticised the officiating after his team’s World Cup playoff defeat on Tuesday, saying he was surprised FIFA appointed a referee from the United Arab Emirates to handle their intercontinental clash against Costa Rica in Doha.
The central Americans won 1-0 to take the last available World Cup slot but only after a contentious VAR decision ruled out a Kiwi equaliser and the New Zealanders also ended the game down to 10 men following the sending off of Kosta Barbarouses.
"If I’m being honest. I thought some of the officiating was absolutely atrocious," Hay said at the post-match press conference.
"The disallowed goal was two players battling for the ball. The foul could have gone to Matt Garbett to start with. Obviously VAR got involved and overturned that."
A check for a foul by the VAR decided Garbett had wrestled Oscar Duarte to the ground in the build-up to his cross that led to Chris Wood putting the ball into the net after 39 minutes.
"I haven't looked closely at the other one," Hay said of a second caution for Barbarouses, who was sent off with some 20 minutes left.
"Our analyst, who was watching in the stands, wasn't convinced, but we could be proven wrong."
Hay says he was stunned by the appointment of Mohammed Abdulla of the United Arab Emirates to handle the one-off game.
"When we looked at what Australia got against Peru last night with good quality European officiating, I thought FIFA made a mistake in such an important game for us," he added.
