New Zealand's Fifa World Cup dream is over. Video / NZ Herald / AP
By Michael Burgess in Doha
All Whites coach Danny Hay has blasted Fifa, describing their decision to appoint inexperienced officials for the Intercontinental Playoff with Costa Rica as unacceptable.
New Zealand's World Cup dream ended with a 1-0 loss on Wednesday morning, but the match was layered withcontroversy after several contentious calls.
The biggest was the decision to scratch a first half equaliser by Chris Wood, after the VAR official found an alleged foul in the buildup.
But referee Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed lost control of the match early on - seemingly unable to deal with the intensity and pressure of the occasion - and never got it back.
Mohamed had never officiated a match of this magnitude before, and was by far the least qualified whistler to take charge of a Fifa Intercontinental Playoff. Historically, referees have been drawn from Europe's elite for such games.
Hay could barely control his anger after the match.
"With what is at stake, it's not acceptable from Fifa," Hay told the Herald.
"They talk about fair play. They talk about trying to grow the game. Yet how they can that occur when you have people that clearly aren't up to standard, making decisions on things that have such a huge impact for us and our nation."
Danny Hay reacts to a refereeing decision during the match. Photo / Getty
Hay and the All Whites management were worried about the appointment of Mohamed as soon as it was confirmed. As the Herald pointed out in an article before the match, most of his work had been confined to his home federation, with nothing comparable to this single leg playoff.
"A lot of people had concerns about the refereeing appointment prior to the game, not just inside our camp," said Hay. "That was voiced by numerous individuals and those people proved to be correct because the officiating wasn't up to standard tonight."
Aside from Mohamed, the head VAR official was Qatari referee Abdullah Ali Al-Marri, who has controlled a total of three international matches in his career, all non-Fifa friendlies.
It was Al-Marri who urged Mohamed to check the pitch-side monitor after Wood's goal had been given, alleging a foul by Matt Garbett as he duelled with a Costa Rican defender.
Hay described the decision to overturn the goal as "disgusting... nothing short of disgusting".
"The guy sitting up in the box, who has the ultimate power to make good quality decisions, clearly doesn't understand football at an elite level.
"It was a tussle, two players going for the ball, could have been a foul given against their player," Hay said.
All Whites coach Danny Hay contemplates how to get his team back into its match against Costa Rica. Photo / Photosport
Mohamed and his team also failed to stop the constant and cynical time wasting by the Costa Ricans, which started as early as the 10th minute, as tension steadily built inside the stadium.
However, Hay admitted that the concession of the third-minute goal was the ultimate killer, as Bill Tuiloma got caught out from a throw-in before Clayton Lewis and Nando Pijnaker failed to deal with a cross, allowing Joel Campbell to nip in between them.
"It was incredibly disappointing," said Hay. "It comes down to tiny, fine margins and just switching off that early on has cost us. But the way we responded - I can't be any prouder of the reaction of the players. On a different day we could have won that game 3 or 4-1."
Hay also paid tribute to Winston Reid, revealing that the captain had torn his groin muscle midway through the first half.
"He was phenomenal," said Hay. "He soldiered on, he wanted them to taste so badly what he had tasted in 2010. His performance was one of immense mana."
