Costa Rica nabs last Cup spot

AL RAYYAN, QATAR » Costa Rica completed a 32-nation World Cup lineup by beating New Zealand 1-0 in an intercontinental playoff on Tuesday.

Leaning heavily on its core of veterans, Costa Rica defended a third-minute goal from Joel Campbell and relied on saves from goalkeeper and captain Keylor Navas.

New Zealand rallied from the early setback to dominate possession and create more and better scoring chances, even after going down to 10 men for the last quarter of the match.

Two key decisions after video review went against New Zealand, canceling out a possible equalizing goal by Chris Wood in the 39th and ensuring a red card in the 69th for a foul by Kosta Barbarouses. The midfielder was on the field as a substitute for just nine minutes.

Navas saved his best for the tense late stages, rising to push away a curling leftfoot shot by Clayton Lewis and getting down to block Wood’s low drive.

Apple, MLS announce streaming partnership

Apple’s foray into live sports took a big step forward Tuesday.

Apple and Major League Soccer have announced a 10-year partnership on a streaming service that will allow fans to watch every game without local blackouts or restrictions. The service will be available exclusively through the Apple TV app beginning next year.

The deal is Apple’s second venture into streaming professional sports. In April, it began airing “Friday Night Baseball,” an exclusive weekly doubleheader of Major League Baseball games.

“The opportunity to partner with a sports league, and truly build the product together with them is very, very unique,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services. “We can bring the things that we do really well with the things that they do really well and really make the product, which I think will be significantly better for the fans. We want to create a great experience for fans to be able to watch and experience MLS like they’ve never had before.”

MLS Commissioner Don Garber said Apple is not paying a rights fee but rather a minimum guarantee against revenues that will be generated with both selling subscriptions.

“It’s part of what we both wanted. We’re in business together,” Garber said.

People with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press that the minimum guarantee is worth $250 million per year.