CHAIRMAN: DR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: DR. KHALID MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

Sports / Football

Costa Rica looking forward to third-straight World Cup appearance

Published: 16 Jun 2022 - 09:31 am | Last Updated: 16 Jun 2022 - 12:27 pm
Peninsula

The Peninsula

Doha: An early goal from Joel Campbell was all Costa Rica needed to secure the 32nd and final spot for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, as the Central Americans defeated New Zealand 1-0 in their intercontinental play-off clash on Tuesday night.

As with Monday’s play-off match, which saw Australia edge Peru in a penalty shootout, at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium – one of eight venues that will host matches at Qatar 2022 – provided the setting for the tournament’s final qualifying showdown. 

Costa Rica took part in Tuesday’s game after finishing fourth in CONCACAF qualifying, while New Zealand were the winners of the Oceania qualifying tournament that was held in Doha in March.

Costa Rica defender Kendall Waston told qatar2022.qa he cannot wait to return to Qatar in November. 

“I want the time to fly, so I can come back soon, as we want to enjoy this World Cup,” said Waston. 

“It’s going to be something unique – and hopefully, we can play well and qualify for the next round. We have a hard group against Japan, Spain and Germany, but I’m looking forward to it.”

With qualification assured, Luis Suarez’s side are looking forward to planning for the most compact World Cup to be staged in the modern era, with many of the Costa Rican players having experienced the geographical challenges that came with participating in Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018.

“It’s going to be nice,” defender Francisco Calvo said of Qatar 2022. 

“When we went to Brazil, there were long distances between cities, with flights of two to three hours, then returning back to our training base. 

"Everything here is going to be close and that will be good. For me, it’s going to be one of the best World Cups in history. Qatar has all the conditions to do it, so we just need to enjoy it,” Calvo said.