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– Costa Rica became the last team to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with victory over New Zealand.
– In the intercontinental play-off, Costa Rica took a third-minute lead when ex-Arsenal player Joel Campbell shot low into the bottom corner.
– New Zealand ended the match with 10 men as substitute Kosta Barbarouses was sent off for fouling Francisco Calvo.
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– The World Cup begins on 21 November with Costa Rica playing 2010 champions Spain in their opener on 23 November.
– Ranked 31st in the world, Luis Fernando Suarez’s side go into Group E, which also contains four-time winners Germany and a Japan side who have advanced beyond the group phase in three of the past five tournaments.
– Costa Rica have now qualified for the World Cup six times and this will be their third successive appearance.
– Their best performance came in 2014 when they reached the quarter-finals, finishing top of a group that included Uruguay, Italy and England, before beating Greece on penalties in the last 16 and losing in a shootout to the Netherlands.
– Costa Rica’s Joel Campbell scored three times in the Premier League for Arsenal between 2014 and 2016
– After finishing fourth in Concacaf qualifying, Costa Rica faced Oceania winners New Zealand with their tie taking place at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar.
– New Zealand, ranked 101st in the world, had a good spell just after conceding the goal, but Alex Greive, Matthew Garbett and Newcastle striker Chris Wood all failed to convert chances from inside the penalty area.
– Wood thought he had scored late in the first half when he shot past Paris St-Germain goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
– However, the referee ruled out the goal after checking the incident on a pitchside monitor following a video assistant referee check – and judged Garbett had fouled Oscar Duarte before crossing for Wood to finish.
– A VAR check also led to Barbarouses’ dismissal as the referee changed his original decision from a yellow card to red after seeing the challenge had caught Calvo on the ankle. The 10 men of New Zealand fought until the end, but could not find an equaliser.
