Epilogue to a qualifying campaign that began in June 2019, Costa Rica won the last of 32 tickets for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (November 21-December 18), beating New Zealand 1-0 in the host country on Tuesday .
For their sixth FIFA World Cup and the third in a row, the Costa Ricans join Spain, Germany and Japan in group E, tough but “pretty” according to their Colombian coach Luis Fernando Suárez.
“All the World Cups are different, but the hope can be the same or greater (than at the 2014 World Cup), so we will savor this moment and then we will go to the World Cup to give it our all”, said reacted the star goalkeeper of PSG, Keylor Navas, alluding to the best performance of his selection in this competition, a quarter-final in the edition disputed in Brazil.
The outcome is cruel for the “Kiwis”, dominating but twice upset by video arbitration (VAR).
“We were lucky to score a goal quickly and then we had to fight against the qualities of New Zealand, especially in the first half,” admitted Suárez, before praising the “resilience” of his men after a start. of winded qualifications.
From the 3rd minute, former Arsenal striker Joel Campbell converted the Central Americans’ only chance in the first period, in the air-conditioned Ahmad bin Ali stadium in Al-Rayyan (west of Doha), which will host seven matches of the first World Cup in an Arab country.
– Red card –
Then, in front of a crowd largely won over in Costa Rica (31st in the FIFA rankings), it was the New Zealanders (101st) who made the game, with 64% possession of the ball and nine shots, including three on target, in the first period. .
But, in the 39th minute, Newcastle striker Chris Wood was denied the equalizing goal, after recourse to VAR, for a foul committed by setter Matthew Garbett.
It was then the yellow card inflicted on Kosta Barbarouses that the VAR transformed into red for a dangerous tackle on Francisco Calvo (69th minute), while the striker of Greek origin had only entered the game 8 minutes earlier .
Reduced to ten, the “Kiwis” remained offensive until the end but without managing to deceive Keylor Navas.
Their coach Danny Hay, whose men are missing out on their third World Cup after 1982 and 2010, said he was “incredibly disappointed”.
“I think we were by far the best team, without a doubt”, he commented, believing that Fifa had “let them down” by choosing a referee who was not at the level.