For a game that technically didn’t happen, for which caps won’t count and there was no completed result, this one will be remembered for quite a long time. Hopefully as a fixture that helped spark some actual genuine tangible response against the scourge of racial abuse in football from its authorities... though it’s hard not to be cynical about such things, sadly. Regardless it should be a proud memory for kiwi football fans as the All Whites stood tall with the courage of their convictions in a very difficult and awkward situation.

The incident occurred with about five minutes left in the first half. The Aotearoa team were up 1-0 but had survived a couple squeaky moments and Qatar were on the attack again, earning a free kick a few metres outside the penalty area. Earning might be a generous word. It looked like a very soft foul as Yusuf Abdurisag ran into Joe Bell after a heavy touch. Michael Boxall sure thought so and let him know all about it. Abdurisag then said something in response, setting off some hectic scenes with fingers being pointed and dudes being held back.

At the time we didn’t know what was going on. All we could see was a bunch of usually mild-mannered kiwi lads looking incensed at Abdurisag. Joe Bell, as captain, remonstrated with the referee. Nothing came of it. The free kick was fired on target and Max Crocombe made a good save. Marco Rojas then missed a great chance to score before the break. The teams hit the sheds for half-time... and then never came back out.

The usual fifteen minute break turned into twenty and kept going. There were folks making phone calls on the pitchside but still no players. When the ball boys started collecting up the footballs it was clear that this thing wasn’t going to carry on. Qatar coach Carlos Queiroz then did an interview with the Qatari broadcaster, helpfully in English, in which he confirmed that the New Zealand team had chosen to abandon the game due to what he suggested was nothing more than some unconfirmed words between two players.

Concurrently, NZ Football posted this explanation...

Oh.

There have since been statements from the NZ Players’ Association as well as a longer one from New Zealand Football. CEO Andrew Pragnell has given quotes to local media including conformation that a “significant” racial slur was used. Several few foreign news outlets have picked up the story and the fascinating thing from here will be to see whether anything actually happens now.

FIFA have been under pressure for a long time around their handling of this stuff. Hard not to think back to that borderline satirical moment in 2016 when they disbanded their anti-racism taskforce with the suggestion that their job was complete. However just last week they actually announced a new such taskforce in light of president Gianni Infantino meeting with Real Madrid and Brazil forward Vinicius Jr following the horrendous levels of abuse that bloke had been suffering in Spain. In fact, Mr Infantino is literally quoted in that press release as saying that match officials need to suspend games when such incidents occur.

But this ref did no such thing despite the kiwi players immediately alerting him as they’re supposed to do. Captain Joe Bell could be seen speaking with the referee again as everyone else walked off for half-time. Well, here’s the first major opportunity since the Vinicius stuff for FIFA to show that they’re not only about lip-service, minimum efforts, and gentle gestures to protect their commercial bottom line. There comes a point where you have to do more than the occasional pre-game banner. Not holding out much hope for them though, to be honest.

That’ll all unfold however it does. The wheel is turning. An important thing to take from NZF’s initial explanation is that it doesn’t sound like the abandonment was on account of there having been an instance of racism in the game. It sounds much more like it was because there was an instance of racism in the game which the referee did nothing about.

It’s important to keep that bigger picture in mind as that’s the only way this turns into some kind of positive precedent (ideally for refs/admins to get serious rather than for players to keep feeling like they have to down tools). What we don’t really want to do is get overly specific because after all we’re talking about one 23 year old fella using some abhorrent language which maybe he didn’t fully understand. Or maybe he made a mistake which he now regrets. That’s feasible. The entire team shouldn’t be held accountable for one bloke’s actions... but, bigger picture thinking again, they are responsible for how they respond. And the words of Carlos Queiroz sounded rather like he thought it was all nonsense while the initial statement from the Qatar FA simply ignored the elephant in the room...

That’s the one social media example from this whole situation where it pays to read the comments, by the way. It’s just flurries of people saying: oh yeah, why’s that?

Since then it’s only gotten stranger. The president of the Qatar FA has put out a statement declaring his organisation’s apparently flawless history of racial equality... while also adding their support for the bloke accused of being racist. That organisation itself has also put out a more specific statement while Abdurisag has done the same in a personal missive – those two messages, both released a full day after the incident, sharing a consistent line that not only did the alleged abuse never happen but in fact Abdurisag was the one who was racially abused instead. Flipping the whole script upside-down... if you believe a single word of it. This hilariously biased edit from one of the state broadcast mouthpieces takes the ploy even further...

Love how they slow motion the bit where Boxy’s talking so you can’t possibly tell what he’s saying, aye? What can ya say, sportswashers are gonna sportswash.

Look, it’s completely possible that this was a misunderstanding but even being generous to the so-called other side of the story it’s hard to doubt the sincerity of the Aotearoa lads. There’s just no way that a team that came out against its own governing body a few months back over a lack of international fixtures would make a flippant decision to abandon a game midway through. The All Whites were winning at the time! They were on track for one of their most significant wins for years, no way would they let slide out of sheer frivolity. And despite Queiroz suggesting that there were no witnesses, the footage makes it blatantly obvious that at least half the kiwi team heard what was said. Bell, Garbett, Tuiloma, and Boxall himself all reacted immediately and they’re just the ones that were visible on camera.

Nobody reading an article about the NZ national men’s football team is going to need reminding of this but Michael Boxall is an absolute champion human being. A valued veteran in this All Whites environment who was a fan favourite at the Wellington Phoenix and has had a really strong career in South African and USA since (two countries whose history of racial segregation is very much a part of modern conversations). He regularly captains Minnesota United in the MLS. A flawless professional, super fit, great attitude. Again, it simply doesn’t add up that he’d lie or exaggerate about something like this.

Boxall also happens to have Samoan heritage. In fact he was one of three Samoan players on the park at the time with Bill Tuiloma and Marko Stamenic also joining him. Max Mata was starting and he’s Cook Islands/Maori. Max Crocombe is also part Maori (his middle name is Teremoana). Even more than usual there was a strong Polynesian influence in that NZ eleven.

On top of that there were players with roots in Chile (Marco Rojas), England (Joe Bell), England/France (Matt Garbett), Netherlands (Nando Pijnaker), Italy (Liberato Cacace). A couple were born overseas but all were raised here and reflect the myriad of multicultural identities possible within Aotearoa. This is a tight-nit group with a strong team culture led by those players themselves. There’s a lot to be proud of there. They’ve put themselves out on a limb with this decision, which is bound to have some uncomfortable ramifications, but they did what they felt was right. You have to commend that even if you’re not entirely convinced about how they handled it.

But the thing about that is even if there was a better way to react (and, frankly, there may not have been) these guys had mere minutes to figure out their course. Did people expect them to have a perfect response ready to go? They didn’t have a PR team to advise them in the changing sheds. The Vinicius situation alluded to the same thing where it’s only when he finally snapped that the spotlight went on what he was suffering. The bottom line here is that it is the responsibility of the match officials to lay down the law, or at least give some impression of giving a damn, and it was only when that didn’t happen that the All Whites felt they had to do something themselves. Actually, it was because that didn’t happen.

Another factor here... it was a half-Samoan player that was the target of the insult. It’s possible that it was his Pakeha heritage under attack but let’s be honest it probably wasn’t. Well, one of the assistant coaches for Qatar just happens to be the greatest Samoan football of all time: Tim Cahill. You could see him talking with Quieroz at one point, seemingly trying to either calm him down or to explain something. Dunno. But that guy is clearly in an awkward situation right about now. Might as well mention that Carlos Quieroz doesn’t exactly have a sterling reputation for diplomacy either, as this incident can attest.

Yet buried underneath all of that kerfuffle was half a game of football which already feels like a distant dream but nope it was real and you know what? The All Whites played really well. Truth be told they were on track for a fantastic result. Qatar are no mugs, they won the 2019 Asia Cup and they’re hosting the next one early next year so they’ll probably do pretty well then too. Now, they did wet the bed at the World Cup losing all three games whilst scoring only once... but the All Whites don’t exactly have a multitude of top scalps on their record. Working backwards and excluding OFC teams, since 2014 we’ve beaten: China, The Gambia, Bahrain, Curaçao, India, Chinese Taipei, and Oman. That’s it.

Darren Bazeley made four changes to his starting team and he kept the same formation with all of his key players so you know he was in it to win it. Max Crocombe came in for Oli Sail between the sticks. Bill Tuiloma started at right back with Nando Pijnaker in for Tim Payne. Max Mata started instead of Ben Waine. Also Marco Rojas swapped for Eli Just. Curious note about that starting eleven is there was not a single current A-League player in there and while it’d be way too much work to cross-check teamsheets and figure out when the last time that happened was it feels like a good bet that it wasn’t recent.

Compared to the Sweden game, this one had some weird vibes from the outset. The match against Sweden had been in Stockholm with a passionate home crowd in attendance. Not a sellout crowd but still a comfortable 20,000 folks (that’s Warriors at Mt Smart areas and we know how that goes). But the Qatar game was on neutral territory in Austria and what few fans were there all sat behind the camera so you couldn’t see them on the telly and you couldn’t really hear them either. Otherwise what unfolded later on might have gotten much uglier.

The effect was that it kinda felt like a training game. Yet that wasn’t such a bad thing for the kiwis who quickly set about moving the ball with real pace and purpose. Sometimes they got stuck going across the backline as happened in the second half against Sweden but other times they were genuinely slick with it. There was a willingness to pass, even from deep in their defensive areas. Once or twice that caught them out. Once or twice that spurred rapid counter attacks. And despite the long range banger nature of the Marko Stamenic goal, that strike also came about at the end of a mean phase of possession (particularly the nudge inside from Rojas and the way McCowatt creates space for the shot with the off-ball run).

A first international goal for Marko Stamenic which probably won’t count. But don’t take anything away from the shot, mate, that was a ripper. It’s also a trick that Stamenic definitely has up his sleeve. Hasn’t really shown it yet as a pro but that’s largely because he’s been asked to play quite disciplined defensive midfield roles... though he has gone close a couple times. However with Joe Bell holding for the AWs that’s given Stam a long leash of influence in these two games and this is what that looks like. Boom.

They should have scored a couple more. Marco Rojas had two big chances, one was a 1v1 that he couldn’t convert and the other was a slice inside before he scooped his effort high. Granted it wasn’t all sizzling football with a few of the same issues playing out from the back as there were against Sweden. Nando Pijnaker dwelt on the ball one time and should’ve been punished (Qatar hit the post). Max Crocombe made a couple nice saves.

That was the difference between these two games: Sweden pressed high and punished All Whites mistakes whereas Qatar didn’t have a major press and they couldn’t punish mistakes in the same way. Makes sense considering how one of those teams is a lot stronger than the other. That ruthlessness gap is a major reason why.

We don’t know how the second half would have gone. The 1-0 lead probably should’ve been more like a 3-2 lead given the chances that both teams had and, although they didn’t capitalise like Sweden did, most of Qatar’s best work again came in the 10-15 minutes prior to the break. The All Whites were leading but they were going to have to spark things back up again to regain the control that they’d had in the opening thirty minutes or so.

But, mate, those opening thirty minutes were so good! Already the itch is there for the next AWs tour. Nothing’s been announced yet but NZF are on record as saying the fellas will play in every remaining international window this year. This was like a tease. Hints of what this team is capable of against Sweden then some actual tangible evidence against Qatar but only half a game’s worth and without the triumphant ending they desired (quite the opposite, as it happens).

The messy side of humanity got in the way so we’ll just have to wait a few more months for this team to hopefully bag that big result. The one that marks the next step in their evolution. That’s okay. We’ll stay patient. Because what we didn’t get to learn about them as footballers, we instead learned about them as men and that might tell us more about this team’s exciting trajectory than anything.

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