Joel Campbell’s early goal sent Costa Rica to the World Cup for a third successive tournament as they edged past 10-man New Zealand 1-0 in their intercontinental playoff on Tuesday and secured the last place at the finals in Qatar.
The former Arsenal striker scored after three minutes for Costa Rica as he squeezed between two defenders to touch home a square pass from Jewison Bennette, with the New Zealand defense slow to react.
But New Zealand will feel hard done by after having an equalizer chalked off by VAR for a foul in the buildup to Chris Wood putting the ball in the back of the net in the 39th minute.