It has been exactly three weeks since the dream of watching an All Whites team at the 2022 FIFA World Cup was shattered over ninety minutes of enticed agony. One single game to decide the final qualifier for the tournament. An entire four-year global cycle concluded on the neutral turf of Doha. A game in which the Aotearoa team in many ways dominated but they did so without a goal, leaving them vulnerable as a few big moments went against them.

It’s a defeat that continues to haunt the psyche, especially because the punishment/reward was so extreme and yet the game was decided by such small margins. Not quite to a 2019 ODI Cricket World Cup extent... but it’s a similar thing. That mix of pride in performance, frustration at rules/officiating, bewilderment at some of the bad luck involved, and a nagging annoyance at little aspects of the game in which the kiwi side weren’t quite ruthless enough.

The Blackcaps got (some) closure by winning a World Test Championship. The All Whites will have to wait a wee bit longer before they get anything meaningful to play for again – even smoking the Aussies later in the year is going to be a bittersweet given that they’re destined for the World Cup and we’re not. So we’re just gonna have to deal with the disappointment. Dig down into the heart of the trauma instead, as you do. Luckily I’ve gone and rewatched the entire game in forensic detail to spare you that work. Here’s a deeper reaction piece.

The Players

Few aspects of this game have lingered as decisively in the weeks since than the experience gap between the two starting line-ups. This Costa Rican team is still built around a core of players who led them to the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup. They’ve played enormous games. Some of the biggest imaginable. The All Whites, meanwhile, were effectively dormant even before the pandemic. After losing to Peru at the intercontinental stage in November 2017 they played a mere six games (four with a second-string team) over the course of the next 46 months. Six games in nearly four years.

Since then they’ve had some lovely results... but mostly against weaker teams. And it’s not like they were blowing them out of the water either. A 2-1 win over Curaçao. 1-0 win over Bahrain. 2-0 win over The Gambia. 3-1 loss to Jordan. Then some sweet Oceania qualifiers... before a 1-0 loss to Peru and 0-0 draw with Oman. The Peru game was the only one against a World Cup calibre team (even if they also missed out it in the end). The Olympics were a crucial part of this journey but remember that’s mostly U23 footy with a handful of overage players. Speaking of ages...

All Whites starting XI by age:

26, 33, 23, 27, 23, 30, 23, 21, 25, 20, 26

Average age of 25.2 yrs

Costa Rica starting XI by age:

35, 27, 34, 33, 22, 32, 18, 29, 24, 29, 30

Average age of 28.5 yrs

That’s a huge difference. Aotearoa had five starters aged 23 or younger and only two older than 30. Costa Rica had two under 23 and five over 30. There was more than three years between the average ages of the two starting line-ups. But it’s nothing compared to the chasm between the cap totals of the respective starters. The age gap was stark. The cap gap is jaw-dropping...

All Whites starting XI by caps:

4, 32, 9, 34, 10, 68, 6, 10, 21, 10, 8

Total caps = 212

Costa Rica starting XI by caps:

107, 28, 151, 68, 7, 72, 6, 117, 12, 74, 72

Total caps = 714

Bill Tuiloma and Chris Wood were the only two NZers with more caps than their age. In fact if you take out Woodsy then Costa Rica’s Celso Borges alone has more caps than the entire rest of that NZ XI combined. Seven of the eleven kiwi starters had only played 10 or fewer senior internationals. Costa Rica did have a few fresh fellas of their own but they were surrounded by multiple centurions. Chris Wood is the All Whites’ all time cap leader with 68 of them... Costa Rica’s starting team for the playoff had seven separate players with that many or more internationals to their name.

Massive diffo. One which substantially affected the game in many ways, not the least of which being that early goal that the All Whites conceded.

The Goal

The goal was scored with 2:08 on the clock. It was the first time Costa Rica had gotten the ball over the half and it was easily preventable at multiple stages.

Starts with a throw-in from Costa Rica’s left-back (after Bill Tuiloma had stepped up and won a strong header sent out of play). Tuiloma was the fella who then sealed up Anthony Contreras (7) on the wing but the ball bounced over the both of them and they got tangled up and hit the ground. But Jewison Bennette (9), who had initially been marked by both Niko Kirwan and Joe Bell, dashed past the wreckage and onto the loose ball then took it almost all of the way to the by-line.

Winston Reid came across to prevent Bennette from getting any closer to the goal, forcing him to cut it back from there. When he did there was only a single bloke running in support in the middle. That bloke was Joel Campbell (12), surrounded by three defenders as Bennette struck the ball. There were seven defenders plus a goalie there or thereabouts. Campbell still got there first.

Campbell then miss-hit the ball off his shin. Had he struck it cleanly then maybe it goes smoothly into Oli Sail’s hands. Would’ve been hard to get that same angle on the shot with a more powerful strike considering how he was dragging it out from behind him. But alas that’s not how it went down. Shank of a shot and it dribbled in beyond the goalie’s reach.

The replays make Joe Bell look pretty faulty although, in fairness to Bell, his initial man was Bennette. That’s who got away from him and that’s who he was tracking. The run of Campbell happens from his blindspot and there wasn’t much time for a headcheck as it all unfolded. Watch it again and it was Clayton Lewis who starts on Campbell but drifts towards the sideline as the overlap unfolds. Hence how you get both central midfielders standing one in front of the other as the cut-back happened.

If Bell knew what was coming, he could have slid in and blocked the cross. Lewis also could have been more aware of where Campbell was travelling. Also Nando Pijnaker reacted slowly to Reid being dragged across and could have closed the distance between CBs much quicker, especially with Tuiloma having already been taken out of the play.

All three of them made slight errors and even still it took a tumble from Tuiloma and a miss-hit from Campbell for that move to end up as a goal. The feeling in the moment was one of shell-shock but the feeling looking back with the benefit of time... is misfortune. A lot of things had to align for Costa Rica to score that goal.

Fair play, they took their major chance – something you cannot say about the kiwis. But, like, you can’t help but wonder how that game may have unfolded if a tiny part of the move was different and that shot had clipped the post and gone wide or been gobbled up by Oli Sail. We’d have been talking about a bullet dodged and then quickly shrugged it off to be forgotten. Instead it was the defining moment of the entire World Cup cycle for two separate nations.

The Performance

Of course at the time we had no idea that’d be the only goal of the match. It was always the fear... but given how well the All Whites responded there was no reason to panic, no matter how strong those Costa Rica defensive structures are. The All Whites didn’t falter after the goal. They kept on forcing mistakes, winning the ball back well, and piling the pressure on.

A Bill Tuiloma long ball into Chris Wood in the area was nodded back by Woodsy to Alex Greive who struck his effort ever so slightly wide. Not all that different from old mate Campbell’s goal to be honest. Soon after there was a similar chance for Matt Garbett. Greive had been denied by a great tackle as he tried to get to the by-line but the chipped second phase cross from Niko Kirwan was deliciously into the Woodsman’s realm. Wood again nodded it back... and Garbett volleyed way over the top. Then before long there was that low cross from Joe Bell on the left which Wood met at the near post with a guided touch that Keylor Navas saved and then did just enough to prevent Wood from pouncing on the rebound.

In hindsight those were three massive early chances as good as almost anything they would produce for the rest of the game. None of them were taken and the All Whites ultimately suffered for that. A quick and clinical equaliser and this match would have been in a tantalising space for New Zealand.

Costa Rica then did their best to settle things down, content to look long when they got the ball rather than trying to string things together having seen that the All Whites press was on top of things, plus they were very quick to retreat in defence. The All Whites recycled possession nicely. They were able to win most of those loose balls by getting on the front foot and being brave in challenges and then were able to transform straight back into attack mode from there. Gotta love the way they played. If only they’d buried one of those early ones.

The Officiating

To be fair they did get the ball into the back of the net once. It came from the only major slip-up that Costa Rica made at the back as Yeltsin Tejeda attempted a random scissor kick clearance and cocked up big time for Wood to swoop in and bury it. Only for that infamous foul by Matty Garbett in the lead-up to come back into stark focus through the VAR screen. A lot of these decisions were written about in the immediate reaction piece by the way so no need to repeat ideas.

The most important thing to say right here is that no team ever loses a game entirely because of the referee. Suppose there’s an absolute disgrace of a penalty in the last minute of a 0-0 game... well, what were you doing for ninety minutes before that? And speaking of disgracefulness, we’re certainly not about to go all Wayne Barnes on this joker by naming and shaming and combing through his history or whatever. Danny Hay said afterwards that he was disappointed a more experienced ref wasn’t appointed by FIFA. That’s the extent to where that thought process needs to go: if he wasn’t up for the task then it’s on FIFA for appointing him. Don’t get ugly and attack individuals. There’s a big enough problem with how officials are treated at grassroots level in this country (and many others) as it is without further stigmatising.

And you know what? The ref and his assistants and his VAR crew... they probably got the two major decisions correct. The goal that was disallowed and the red card later on. There is absolutely a case to say that Garbett was fouled first before he clamps his arm on the guy as he falls. But two fouls don’t equal play on. That just means it should’ve been an All Whites free kick. There’s also a case to say that it was a very soft foul and not at all in keeping with the flow of the rest of the game and that the only reason it got noticed was that it led to a goal and that hyper-analysing goals by looking for reasons not to award them is not exactly in the spirit of the game... but welcome to the concept of VAR in 2022.

Not the first time it’s happened and won’t be the last. Could just as easily have happened at the other end to send us to the World Cup instead. In fact maybe an All White should’ve tried getting slightly fouled in the lead up to Joel Campbell’s goal and we might’ve had a penalty shootout instead (which, had that happened, would clearly have favoured the more experienced team with the world class goalkeeper between the sticks so not really something to hang the hat on). Point being that this was a very tense game between two physical teams. It looked like a foul by Garbett in live viewing and it looks like one three weeks later on replay. Harsh yet understandable.

As for the red card, that was an easy decision. Nothing malicious on Kosta Barbarouses’ part. He’d come off the bench to try and impact things and had instead produced a few clunky touches. The latest of those threatened to lead to a breakaway so he dove in desperately to stop it, hoping to cop a yellow card that’d atone for his error. Except he got the timing off and absolutely crunched a dude’s ankles.

Nah, the frustrations with the officiating were more about the things that didn’t get called. The shove on Chris Wood in the penalty area was an egregious one. You could see Alex Greive begging for VAR in the background talking to the lino but to no avail. Wood was clearly milking it but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a foul and Contreras blatantly bumps into him.

Those set piece ones were a common sight. Winston Reid got straight up rugby tackled on a corner earlier in the match and Wood got arm-locked in the second half also at corner kick time. Not to mention Libby Cacace getting chopped just outside the penalty area. Or Matt Garbett copping some heavy contact. Alex Greive got clattered a couple times early second half too.

In fact, tell ya what, here’s a compilation of some of the stuff that went uncalled in this match...

Lest you think this is sour grapes, there are plenty of New Zealand fouls in there too that went ignored. Bill Tuiloma with a couple shoves in the back before competing for headers. Tuiloma and Lewis both fouled dudes to stop counter attacks and got away with it. It was just a softly officiated game all over... until the VAR got involved.

Chris Wood had already spoken to the ref twice inside the first 23 mins about perceived fouls that weren’t called. It’s not like the players weren’t making it known. Ironically there were no cards at all until Kosta Barbarouses’ yellow which was swiftly upgraded to a red although Winston Reid then got one very soon afterwards as Anthony Contreras led with an elbow into Nando Pijnaker’s ear. Not only did that elbow go uncalled and unchecked but the ref seemed to take his time reacting to the head knock too. Reid’s yellow, naturally, came for dissent.

On another day, that disallowed goal might have counted and Chris Wood might have gotten that penalty and Contreras might have been sent off for the elbow and the All Whites might have qualified for the World Cup.

As for the issue of Costa Rica’s time wasting: sure, there was heaps... but they were winning and that’s how it works. If a team is time-wasting as early as the first half then take that for the compliment it is and go punish them with a few goals. Anyway, the ref did warn them several times along the way. Never bothered with a card... but then we’ve already established he wasn’t the most assertive bloke out there.

Half-Time Adjustments

When you’ve created multiple chances in the first half, with a goal harshly disallowed, a penalty shout denied, and plenty of shots albeit not enough of them on target... you’re probably sitting in that dressing room as a team talking about how you should be level but okay, so it goes, just gotta repeat the performance in the second half and the rewards will follow. That had been the flow of the game and you’d have been a brave person to back Costa Rica to defend another forty-five of that level of pressure.

But that’s assuming that the flow stayed the same. Which it didn’t. Costa Rica have a very clever manager in Luis Fernando Suárez, a 62yo Colombian who has coached all over Latin America and who oversaw the flip in fortunes that Costa Rica experienced during qualifying to get them to this stage. He could see the writing on the wall... so he chucked a few new paintings up to cover it. A half-time triple sub which at the time felt like desperation and now feels like genius level coaching.

Jewison Bennette, Gerson Torres, and Keysher Fuller were all brought off. Two wide midfielders and right back. Bryan Ruiz, Kendall Waston, and Carlos Martinez were the players to replace them and not exactly in a like for like manner either.

Bennette is still a teenager and both he and Torres are naturally quite attacking players who were tasked with doing a lot of defending (not coincidentally Cacace and Kirwan were getting a lot of space out wide). So the experience of Bryan Ruiz, who was always gonna be introduced at some point, was seen as a preference. Ruiz came on as an attacking midfielder playing in behind striker Joel Campbell.

Then with the other two it was a matter of switching to a permanent back three. Waston in at CB, Martinez outside him. More bodies in the backline to deal with that physical presence of Chris Wood in particular – who’d won basically every aerial ball that had come his way, usually with enough comfort to pick his spot with a header or chest-down.

The Desperation

The result of those CR changes was no less Aoteaora possession but considerably fewer chances. Joe Bell helped instigate a couple looks straight from the whistle. There was a nice ball over the top from Bell to Wood, who hit Greive in the area but he was tackled by a blindside trailing defender. Yet not a lot else was going on for the first quarter of an hour of that half as Suarez’s substitutions had the desired effect. If anything Costa Rica were beginning to look like more of a threat on the counter attack themselves.

Thus it was Danny Hay’s turn to alter things. He waited until just before the hour then brought on Ben Waine for Greive up front and Kosta Barbarouses for Garbett in the ten role. On another day, with a healthy Callum McCowatt and Marco Rojas available, it may well have been those two called upon. Also Eli Just should probably have been summoned ahead of one of that other pair, though that’s easy to say after the fact.

Sadly Barbarouses was only out there for about eight minutes before the red card and that caused another reshuffle.

Down to ten men, Winston Reid was sacrificed for Eli Just. Reid had been carrying a groin strain since the first half though in all honesty you couldn’t notice it through the screen. Tough mahi from Winston. And you know what? Rather than shrinking, the All Whites became even more aggressive after the red. Just slipped into the CAM role and they took the risk of playing a back three with only two people - no choice but to gamble for that precious equaliser. Tim Payne and Marko Stamenic also came on with eleven mins left as straight swaps for Kirwan and Lewis.

Therefore can’t complain about anything that Costa Rica worked up on the counter attack the rest of the way as those openings came with the territory. More important was Kirwan whipping in a cross towards the penalty spot which Wood acrobatically volleyed over. Shout out to Eli Just who made a large impact as the link man between midfield and attack, opening up space to find the wide players in crossing positions – something that had been lacking since the first half.

It was from one of those situations that Clayton Lewis unleashed a shot which Navas palmed wide on the dive. Kirwan had hit another low cross that Waston blocked on the slide and the ball ended up out wide again with Joe Bell. Bellinho considered a cross before nudging it infield to Lewis who popped a very good shot which drew a very good save.

That’s how you have to play against a crowded penalty area. Gotta stretch them wide with the threat of crosses and gotta tempt them forward with the threat of long shots. Especially in this case where no matter who Chris Wood was up against, he was winning those duels. Best example being the chipped ball over from Stamenic on 85’ which he took down beautifully on the chest, flipped back onto his right foot via a knee… then shanked the actual shot. Would’ve been a stunning goal but that’s what star strikers are for. When you’re Christopher Grant Wood, any chance like that which doesn’t end up in the back of the net is a chance gone begging.

Same as those early ones. Same as the scattered other chances along the way. Same as the fouls that weren’t given and the ones that were. Little moments across the course of a football game, not enough went the way of the All Whites. Some of that was beyond their control but enough of it wasn’t and you can’t help but feel that this game perhaps came a year too soon for this group. They still could have won. They maybe still should have won. But give them a year or two’s further development and they would have won.

Winston Reid vs Anthony Contreras

One last bonus bit that deserves a mention. Because, mate, if you’re looking for the true villain of the piece then forget about blokes with whistles and telly screens and look no further than 22 year old Costa Rican forward Anthony Contreras.

He seems like a quality player. Spent the last season on loan at Guanacasteca from Herediano but a World Cup showing could boost him into Europe, who knows. There was also a lovely story about how his dad quit his job in order to be in Qatar for this playoffs. So, like, nothing personal. All the best to him in the future. But damn he was involved in a lot of niggle.

Who shoved Chris Wood over in the area? Anthony Contreras. Who shoved Oli Sail as he went for a high ball and nearly had a fight with Winston Reid? That was Anthony Contreras. Who had another dust up with Reid later on and went down trying to milk a card for an elbow? Anthony Contreras. Who threw an elbow of his own into Nando Pijnaker’s noggin? Anthony Contreras.

It wasn’t all one-way niggle though. There was a point when Nando absolutely mashed him with a shoulder, a tackle that absolutely definitely got whistled up for a foul (although no card of course). Here are the two Reid incidents and the Pijnaker revenge...

Then again, Contreras left a lump on Pijnaker’s temple soon afterwards so it didn’t quite work out as planned. Very poetic that Contreras would try to milk a card for an apparent elbow by Reid to no avail then himself escape the same fate later on. Would’ve been more poetic if he’d gotten the VAR’s attention though. Ah well.

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