Thousands of supporters flooded the streets of San Jose after Costa Rica beat 10-man New Zealand 1-0 in their intercontinental play-off to secure the last spot for World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
Joel Campbell’s early goal sent Costa Rica to the World Cup for a third successive tournament. “Today is a joyful day,” said Keylor Navas, the captain and goalkeeper whose saves late in the game preserved the lead earned by Campbell’s third-minute goal. “We played many finals to be here, we played many matches in which we knew we couldn’t make any mistakes.
And today was another one of those.” Former Arsenal striker Campbell scored after he squeezed between two defenders to touch home a pass from Jewison Bennette with the New Zealand defence slow to react.
But New Zealand will feel hard done by after having an equaliser chalked off by VAR for a foul in the build-up to Chris Wood putting the ball in the back of the net in the 39th minute.