Costa Rica beats New Zealand to qualify for WC
Joel Campbell’s early goal sent Costa Rica to the World Cup for a third successive time as his team edged past 10-man New Zealand 1-0 in their inter-continental play-off 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. But, New Zealand would feel hard done by as Chris Wood’s 39th-minute strike was ruled out after a VAR check for a foul in the build-up. An inspection found that Matthew Garbett had fouled Oscar Duarte in what looked like a harsh decision.
A VAR check also led to the 69th-minute red card for Kosta Barbarouses, leaving the Kiwis down to 10 men for the final 25-odd minutes. The play-off between the fourth-placed team in the CONCACAF region and the Oceania confederation winner – at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium here – brought an end to the qualifying campaign.
New Zealand looked the more enterprising of the teams, with centre-forward Wood, who was constantly watched by a cautious Costa Rican defence, the target of its attacks. Alex Greive and Garbett also had chances in the first half, but their shooting was off target.
Three changes by Costa Rica at half-time lifted it out of its slumber, but it was still New Zealand which showed more attacking enterprise in the second half 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. Costa Rica sat back and absorbed the pressure until the final whistle to set off joyous celebrations.
Inter-continental play-offs: Costa Rica 1 (J Campbell 3) bt New Zealand 0