New Zealand gets CONCACAFED
On paper, New Zealand should have won this one.
The All Whites outshot their opponents 15-4, doubled them up in possession 67%-33%, and got 6 corners to their opponent’s 1. All that on paper should have added up to dominate win, especially when you factor in xG, which had the Kiwis with a 1.41 to .2 advantage. This was a match that should have put New Zealand into the World Cup and instead, they’re on the outside looking in, the most recent victim of CONCACAF.
The culprit? Plucky Costa Rica, who had made it to the intercontinental playoff by finishing fourth in the CONCACAF, just short of third (and an automatic entry to the World Cup) due to goal differential, started the match exactly how they needed to. Just two minutes into the match, Jewison Bennet crossed the ball into Joel Campbell who was the only option for Costa Rica in the box. Campbell was sandwiched by three New Zealand defenders yet still managed to get a shot off. Though the shot went off a defender’s attempted block, it stayed on frame and beat the diving goalkeeper, putting Costa Rica up 1-0 very early on.
The rest of the way wasn’t easy for the 4th place CONCACAF side, but if there’s one thing Costa Rica knows how to do, its lock down a more talented, more aggressive, more attacking opponent. As a USMNT fan, I’ve watched it year after year. The Ticos know how to play this game and they’re very good at it: aggressive but patient defending, tremendous amounts of time-wasting, phantom injuries and endless cramps, and the secret weapon of that backline, their keeper.
Costa Rica has the best goal keeper in CONCACAF in the net (though they didn’t for the second half of a decisive 2-1 USMNT win in WC qualifying), Keylor Navas. A point not lost on Charles Boehm who highlighted that fact in a tweet after today’s result. Navas did what was necessary to get his team into the World Cup in his final run in goal for the Ticos.
New Zealand did what they could trying to score and did actually get one ball past Navas, but Chris Wood’s goal was overturned by a VAR decision that Kiwis are complaining about all over social media and conventional media outlets alike. A mid-second half red card didn’t help the All Whites’ chances, leaving them a man short when they needs one more than ever. And while the rest of the world may wonder what happened, the American continent is well aware of truth. New Zealand was CONCACAFED.
And while New Zealand is left to ponder what might have been, Costa Rica advances into the World Cup as the final nation to qualify. CONCACAF gets its fourth ticket punched in a form most fitting.
- Dan Vaughn