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3:21
Costa Rica qualifies for the World Cup in Qatar
This Tuesday the Central American team obtained their pass to the World Cup by beating the New Zealand team 1-0 at the Al Rayyan stadium and in this way the 32 teams that will play the World Cup were completed.
The 'Tico' team once again classifies for the top national team competition and with the help of Keylor Navas under the three sticks. In this way, the 32 teams of the Qatar World Cup are completed and Costa Rica will face Spain, Germany and Japan in group E. Perhaps this is "the group of death" for having rivals with that level of football.
The game started in the best way for the Central Americans. Only at minute 2 they scored the first and only goal of the match. The play came about thanks to an attack led by Bennette down the left wing and when he reached the baseline he took a low cross for Joel Campbell to anticipate in the area and hit him with his left foot to make it 1-0.
The shot was crossed to the far post and goalkeeper Sail could not do anything else. In this way the match would be conditioned and with that goal the 'tica' victory would be defined and the last place in the Qatar World Cup would be sealed.
However, at minute 11 New Zealand would try to tie. A cross to the area would end with a shot that Alex Greive would send just wide. At minute 14, again through Chris Wood who takes a shot, but Keylor Navas would stop without problems.
In the following minutes, those led by Danny Hay would turn to the attack, dominate and have all the initiatives facing the area. Each time they arrived with more danger, until in the 39th minute they achieved the tie, but the referee reviewed the VAR and the play was invalidated due to a previous foul. In this way they would go to rest.
Before starting the second half, coach Suárez made three changes. Enter Bryan Ruiz, Carlos Martínez and Kendall Waston; and Bennette, Fuller and Torres come out. Costa Rica stood with a line of five defenders and Campbell only in attack, betting on counterattacks.
Little by little, the New Zealanders regained control and began to generate new attacking opportunities, however, the 'Ticos' focused on neutralizing Chris Wood, who was the one who received in the area and pivoted to give it to another striker and generate a possible goal.
At minute 60, Danny Hay moves the bench. Kosta Barbarouses and Niko Kirwan enter, Greive and Garbett exit. But at 67', Barbarouses attacked a Costa Rican player hard and the referee, after reviewing the VAR, ends up giving the New Zealand player a red card. The oceanic would face the rest of the game with ten players.
At 76' and 83', Navas would be decisive in preventing the tie. First, he made a great save from a shot from a New Zealand striker and then he would stop a low shot from Wood, after getting into a one-on-one with the keeper. Then the meeting would end with the classification of Costa Rica.
The former Real Madrid and current PSG player will return to a World Cup with a team that always worries the greats. Without a doubt, Spain and Germany will face tough matches against the Central Americans.
