Despite the farcical officiating, we 100% deserved to lose. I am gutted for the boys but they didn't do enough. Not a single convincing goal scored against non Oceania team recently, of course we were going to struggle against 12. Bell was jaded all game. Lewis came alive in the last 15, Tuiloma offered nothing. There are definitely big gaps in quality within the team. I.e Payne and Kirwan. Wood has 0 support. Our plan the last few years has been hoof it to wood. What does one expect when he tires?
Disagree overall but differences of opinion are at the heart and soul of football fandom! I reckon not having Rojas was probably a key loss for us. Agree on Bell - he seemed a little off. Oh and we did score a goal tonight - got ruled out for pre-goal events but was clearly still a good goal - plus Lewis's strike was perfect - except that the goalie was too good on that occasion - but it was a great effort that would have been in most days. If the officialdom had been consistent things could have been quite different.
Really gutted with that loss. We had 15 shots to 3. Really proud of the guys. They played some nicely constructed football. Ref was crap. Kiwi gets elbowed in the head and our captain gets a card for contesting. Costa Rica weren’t that good. Giving away an easy goal after two minutes and then dominating and having Var take away our goal is disappointing. Everyone put in an effort however I thought Bell was disappointing. I have not seen much of him play before but he looks slow and cumbersome. By contrast Lewis looks a good midfielder, quick feet and good vision. Another day that could have been a win for us.
Looking at his club record this season Bell has been a little off his best form.
But it was his little chip to put Wood through. Another day that might’ve been enough. He had some moments of quality and did a lot of covering. Sometimes found himself against 4 Costa Ricans. Remembering back to the OFC and the Olympics it was Lewis who looked like pants. Form is part of the game.
We were better than them. I didn't expect that. We were creditable.
Everywhere but the scoreboard. I thought we did play well, but lacked a bit of luck, some urgency and another creative player. We didn’t put pressure on them the way we could have if we hadn’t conceded early.
Despite the farcical officiating, we 100% deserved to lose. I am gutted for the boys but they didn't do enough. Not a single convincing goal scored against non Oceania team recently, of course we were going to struggle against 12. Bell was jaded all game. Lewis came alive in the last 15, Tuiloma offered nothing. There are definitely big gaps in quality within the team. I.e Payne and Kirwan. Wood has 0 support. Our plan the last few years has been hoof it to wood. What does one expect when he tires?
How does anything that happened in games before equate to deserving a loss in a 1 off match? Peru were way better than Costa Rica and only beat us by a lucky goal, Oman were better than Costa Rica and we drew 0-0. We could have been more clinical for sure, and yeah some of our stars seemed a little off their game. But, this is one loss that has nothing to do with the NZL players or management failing. We should have done better to defend their goal, and that's about all we could have changed. It simply comes down to either incompetence by the officials (mistakes happen), but it is clear that the VAR team were watching one team and one team only - and that was proven by the fact the leaping tackle on Bill T close to the 85th minute was totally ignored. Even an incompetent VAR team would have reviewed that and had it looked at. But this lot didnt.
Thought it was a weird sub to take Lewis off, he was quality, if anything he stood out above Bell. Glad we have him at the Nix and at his age should only get better the next few years.
It didn't help McCowwat and Rojas were ill but we lacked any ability to unlock their defence after going 1-0 down, really missed Singh I think.
So incredibly proud of our team, I still have tears in my eyes. Granted, we conceded a soft goal and that is probably more of an issue than the controversial officiating. Just watching Winston now and he rightly said that FIFA should of provided more experienced referees and he is 100% right that “that is football”. I can’t criticise this team and coaches for this game and I know people are disappointed but to micro-criticise these guys on this result is pretty piss poor I think. Looking forward to attending the Aussie game to firstly show my support and secondly to see these guys play, I don't know when we’ll see them again.
Overall the lads showed just what they're capable of, but obvious we're a young team with little top-tier experience. If a couple of other things had gone our way we could've taken the win, but that's football. The real concern is what now... Play friendlies for 3 years, romp the OFC qualifiers and then play 2 games at the world cup? Being world cup is great but if it's 4 years of friendlies plus an injection of cash, NZ football really needs to consider a push for more meaningful games. Ideally, that is jumping onto an AFC nations league. We've seen today, against Peru, and at the Olympics, we can compete at a high level, but playing friendlies against other nations' B sides isn't going to do anything to put meaning on playing for the All Whites. Only time will tell, but it would be horrid if this new generation of stars were wasted.
Why? Hay didn't coach the players to concede that really bad early goal. He's not responsible for a hugely controversial equaliser being ruled out. Or Kosta's dumb dumb challenge.
I thought he got his tactics about right. As he and others have said was going to come down to a few key moments. And fudge didn't we have those.
I'd add Wood's tired virtual air swing late on to the above. It just hasn't happened for him at the top level last 6-12 months. I'm hoping he's still quality in 2026, but it may just be 1-2 years too late for him (will be 34.5 yrs old).
Bell & Stamenic are hugely promising by NZ standards, but both have a long way to go. Bell seems to be struggling a little in Denmark with the step up from Norway. Lewis was more accurate today with his passing/decision making. I'd say Thomas was missed as much as Singh for this game. The future is bright if they can ever get on the pitch all together.
Re the disallowed goal, think was just your typical over fudgeing over zealous VAR interference rather than any corruption. Garbett has his hand across the body of the Tico holding his sock for a split second, and that's enough for VAR to jump all over it. But maybe I'm naive. Didn't most of the Americas countries vote for Qatar to host this WC?
Ticos were average. They almost scored too early. Pretty much everything we had been told about them came to pass, but they played it smart. However that won't do much against Spain & the Germans. Even the Japanese will be well favoured. Hope CR cop 3 thrashings.
Thought Libby was immense, and really impressed by Pijnaker. Kirwan had his moments. Just & Waine added something coming on. All in all they should be proud, and future is bright. Just need some comp to play in before 2026. Anything. A OFC/East AFC Nations League that I bang on about would be the dream.
Hope a good crowd turns up at Eden Park. Internationals farewells for Winnie, Smith plus maybe M Boxall & Kosta.
Hay wasnt responsible for the early goal, but he was responsible for spending the last couple of years shaping a team that can score at least a goal. The game against Oman was a pretty big warning sign. Costa Rica wasn't good enough that the manager should keep their job for losing to them. Any other team on earth in our position would have looked at this game as the minimum target for the manager. Now if it was a good team like Peru or mexico the expectations would change.
It's not that hay got it wrong per se, it's that he didn't get it right. And the right here should be the expectation.
Team def gave it there all. Just missing that final bit of quality along side Wood. Disappointing that 3 of our more creative players were missing today in Singh, Rojas and Thomas. Best team we have ever had with them in there. Most frustrating thing is we now don't have any competitive fixtures for 3 years only friendlies. About time FIFA did something to rectify that. Imagine that was Reid's last game for the AW's.
Better use this momentum and consistently book in some more fudgeing games between now and the next qualifying, hopefully some fresh attitudes at NZF
Pragnell sounds bullish, but losing out on this $NZ16.5M FIFA pay day, must have some ramifications. Read somewhere it can cost like $300-400K to assemble the AWs for a FIFA window plus 2 games. Something like that. It ain't cheap
Really need FIFA's help to find us a comp (expenses paid) to play in, esp years 2023-2024 before OFC 2026 WC qualifying. Anything.
I'm too drunk to work it out, but our goals scored vs non oceania opposition must be terribly low in recent matches? Especially considering an EPL striker has played most of them.
A second leg with home support would have been interesting. We might have even been favorites.
Absolutely - a return match would have been epic. FIFA didn't do the sport any favours with this one-off 'neutral' venue thing. Opportunity missed for them to really boost the game in both Costa Rica and here (even more).
As an Argentinian who watches CONMEBOL regularly, the weaker sides like Venezuela are miles ahead of Costa Rica, and NZ will probably lost every game by a few goals, unfortunately Friar Tuck
Get us in the Copa America asap, we can give those smaller nations a real run for their money.
As an Argentinian who watches CONMEBOL regularly, the weaker sides like Venezuela are miles ahead of Costa Rica, and NZ will probably lost every game by a few goals, unfortunately Friar Tuck
Get us in the Copa America asap, we can give those smaller nations a real run for their money.
Probably, I’d rather try scam a place in the Gold Cup to be more competitive. If Qatar can get it, why can’t we? Hint:$
I just watched their goal again. Man it was so poorly defended. I hate to say it but before the players rip the ref too much they really need to watch the replay of that goal a few times.
As an Argentinian who watches CONMEBOL regularly, the weaker sides like Venezuela are miles ahead of Costa Rica, and NZ will probably lost every game by a few goals, unfortunately Friar Tuck
Get us in the Copa America asap, we can give those smaller nations a real run for their money.
I've watched Venezuela (FIFA ranking 58) a few times and they are not as good as CR. Not sure why Bolivia (78) are ranked worse than them.
But problem would be all the other 8 Sth American teams at Copa America would be better than AWs, especially in Ecuador 2024 (big culture shock for our boys) with lots of travelling fans from each Sth American country.
As Carlind suggests the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup is probably a better idea, as more teams at the AWs level. Host nation yet to be disclosed, but it's often the USA I think?? Interesting that Qatar are invited to participate next year despite the 2023 AFC Asian Cup overlapping with the Gold Cup.
Putting aside any horrible Qatar & CONCACAF collusion thoughts - can the AWs take Qatar's place at the Asian Cup next year? Unlikely I imagine.
Oh and we ain't Robinson Crusoe right now. A 32 team WC is &^%$#@ tough to qualify for. Just ask Italy, Ukraine, Sweden, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Scotland, Nigeria, Egypt etc.
Really gutted. I think despite playing much better than Costa Rica we didn't do enough. Yes the referring team had a pretty crappy game and I'm not only talking about the big decisions. They were so soft on time wasting and didn't give us a number of fouls near the box from where we could have threatened. What really annoyed me today were the plethora of cheap turn overs. Balls into space to no one or great runs being ignored. And many basic mistakes like Payne running the ball out of bounds or people miscontrolling fairly easy passes. We should have turned our superior ball possession and attacking intent into many more goal scoring opportunities and one or two would have certainly gone in. I'm conflicted about Garbett's supposed foul leading to our equaliser. They are both holding onto each other and he certainly comes across with his arm, but is that enough to make someone flip over like the defender did? Also wants Garbett fouled first?
The crux of the matter is FIFA sent a refereeing team that was more than sub par to a very important game. That really stinks as they had their hand in a number of questionable decisions that ultimately cost us dearly. But had we been more composed and taken another 7 or so shots, I think we might have been able to overcome them.
Some good points NZP but it's easier said than done staying composed, especially when you are shell shocked in the 3rd minute. Then cruelly denied an equaliser. Meanwhile 90% of the crowd are against you all game.
Even Winnie our most experienced guy lost his composure, and some bad body language shaking his head, like it wasn't going to be our night. For over half that team, this would have been the biggest game they had ever played. Big learning experience, and right fudgeer we hadn't more big occasions like the Peru one prior to prepare for CR.
Tbh I'm glad we don't have to go to farken Qatar with it's thousands dead building air con stadiums for one tournament that'll completely go to shark after it's done using indentured workers and having corruptly bought the vote anyway.
From a football perspective game time matters. Reid is fit but the defence switched off in the first two minutes, with obvious results.
Kosta played 5 games last season and never looked at the races for his brief cameo, he miscontrolled it, couldn't read a through ball and then got sent off. Did he come on based on reputation? Maybe, because Just wouldn't have done that and we'd have had a better chance at an equaliser.
We missed Singh and Thomas badly and Bell had his first bad game for us under pressure, lots of attempts at stuff that lost possession and once when he had time to start a counter he dithered on the ball and let Costa Rica recover.
On Garbetts foul, he's hooked his arm on the blokes thigh and pulled. I don't like that the referee and VAR was inconsistent with fouls from Costa Rica but he's not just falling there, he's done that on purpose because he knew the CR player wasn't going down otherwise. It's a foul.
Essentially it's the same old stuff, Hay has got us looking competent but we still lack a cutting edge because Wood is our only dynamite up front, and Grieve and others are lacking the experience they need.
Disappointing but not surprising once we'd conceded. Costa Rica sharkhoused it, of course they were going to do that. 11 v 11 into the final 10 and we bag an equaliser imo. But Kosta cost us, and his sub on just baffled me.
Basically we don't play enough games against teams like CR, and our players don't have the mongrel or the experience of mongrel to be able to stand up to it. We didn't try and manage the ref, and CR did. They benefited from that.
A shame that so many of our creative players were injured/unwell. The Kosta sub didn't pan out but given the positions he was taking up in the short time on the pitch he wasn't the right player to bring on for that role, sure if he was replacing Grieve and playing more as a wide forward would make sense but not in, what seemed, space behind Wood and Waine. Maybe the idea was to have Waine and Kosta playing off of Wood trying to beat the offside trap on any flick-ons from Wood but I don't think that happened even once.
Their goal was a good one but in some respects very lucky as well. The guy crossing had to thread a needle between the legs of 3 All White defenders and it just squeezed past - a little left or right and it doesn't get through. Then their deflection shot at goal found the perfect but very narrow gap between Sails hands and the post - a little bit left or right and it doesn't go in. Two very tight ball movements. Sometimes things just work out and for Costa Rica it did on that occasion while for us it didn't - our defence was great all game apart from being on the wrong end of that. Apart from that it was really pretty much dominated by us. I wonder if Costa Rica could have lifted gears at all if we'd equalised or been in front because they didn't show much to trouble us apart from the one goal - I'm sure they'd have loved a second or more but they were never really anywhere near it. I doubt that they were under instructions to park the bus for 87 minutes. Guess we'll never know. But we did play very well against a team that has recently beaten/been very competitive with teams like Canada, USA, Mexico in games that mattered, as did the one today. Costa Rica wouldn't have been holding anything back. We did well - just not quite enough.
@ Balbi Agree with all that bar the 11 v 11. We actually looked better moving the ball after Kosta went off imo! He looked very rusty and had hardly featured in the lead in. Maybe he had a great game against Oman? And was Susie the waitress feeding McCowatt and Rojas? And would disagree that Reid lost composure. Thought he managed the ref fairly well!
Some good points NZP but it's easier said than done staying composed, especially when you are shell shocked in the 3rd minute. Then cruelly denied an equaliser. Meanwhile 90% of the crowd are against you all game.
Even Winnie our most experienced guy lost his composure, and some bad body language shaking his head, like it wasn't going to be our night. For over half that team, this would have been the biggest game they had ever played. Big learning experience, and right fudgeer we hadn't more big occasions like the Peru one prior to prepare for CR.
The lineup put out next Wednesday morning will play the game of their lives, stepping up on the big occasion and doing everything they can to get the result - which will go in our favour.
Feel free to mock me if that doesn't happen, but for now that is my prediction.
Some good points NZP but it's easier said than done staying composed, especially when you are shell shocked in the 3rd minute. Then cruelly denied an equaliser. Meanwhile 90% of the crowd are against you all game.
Even Winnie our most experienced guy lost his composure, and some bad body language shaking his head, like it wasn't going to be our night. For over half that team, this would have been the biggest game they had ever played. Big learning experience, and right fudgeer we hadn't more big occasions like the Peru one prior to prepare for CR.
