Referee hands win to Switzerland as Northern Ireland rue their luck
Northern Ireland coach Michael O’Neill said he was “staggered and bewildered” by a controversial penalty decision which gave Switzerland a 1-0 win in their World Cup play-off first leg on Thursday.
The key moment came with just over half an hour to go, when Xherdan Shaqiri’s volley was blocked by Corry Evans in the box and the referee pointed to the spot, even though he appeared to have been hit on the shoulder as he took evasive action.
Ricardo Rodriguez made no mistake from the penalty spot, as the visitors finally made their superiority count to put them in the driving seat in the two-legged tie.
“The referee has no-one in his line of sight,” fumed O’Neill.
“Corry’s arm isn’t in an unnatural position, it’s by his side. The ball hits him on the back more than anything. I thought the referee had blown for a foul or an offside. Nobody had claimed for it.
“I’m staggered by the decision, staggered by the yellow card but there’s nothing we can do about it now. There’s anger in the dressing room in there. They feel very aggrieved about what’s happened.” added O’Neill.
CROATIA BEAT GREECE
Croatia cruised to a 4-1 victory over Greece to move to the brink of a spot at next year’s finals. Luka Modric opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 13th minute. Croatia doubled their lead six minutes later when an unmarked Nikola Kalinic flicked in a low cross. Greece pulled one back on the half-hour mark when captain Sokratis Papastathopoulos scored. But just three minutes later Croatia’s two-goal advantage was restored with Ivan Perisic powering home a close-range header. Andrej Kramaric tapped in to increase Croatia’s lead four minutes after half-time and leave Greece with it all to do in the return leg on Sunday.
PARIS:
NZ FACE PERU
World Cup finals fever enveloped New Zealand’s capital on Friday as hundreds of Peru fans greeted their team at the airport ahead of their intercontinental play-off with the All Whites on Saturday.
“We would like to tell the 30 million expectant Peruvians back home and the thousands who have welcomed us at the airports or who have come to watch the match, we are ready. We will bring all their expectations to fruition,” manager Ricardo Gareca told reporters.
WELLINGTON: