New Zealand manager criticized referee after Costa Rica defeat

coach Danny Hay criticized the referee after the defeat against

and the failure to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, describing his decisions as  "absolutely atrocious".

Last night, New Zealand played against Costa Rica in Doha and suffered a defeat with a single goal by Joel Campbell in the 3rd minute, and failed to qualify for the World Cup. However, they were scored by Chris Woods in the first half when the referee ruled in a controversial decision with the help of the VAR, and Kosta Barbarouses was sent off in consultation with the VAR in the 69th minute. Hay criticized FIFA's decision to select UAE referee Mohamed Abdullah for this crucial game.

He told reporters: 

"They have let us down in putting somebody in charge who has clearly not officiated at this sort of level.

"When we saw the announcement and then we looked at what Australia and Peru had last night with good, quality European officiating [Slovenian Slavko Vincic], I thought FIFA have made a mistake there in such an important game."

"If I'm being honest. I thought some of the officiating was absolutely atrocious.

"The disallowed goal was two players battling for the ball. The foul could have gone to Matt Garbett to start with. Obviously VAR got involved and overturned that."

Veteran New Zealand defender Winston Reid, who previously played for West Ham United and Brentford, echoed his coach's sentiments.

"My general concern, I wish FIFA for a game like this would have given us someone more experienced. But that's the way it is," Reid told Sky TV.

"There were some decisions that just didn't go our way, unfortunately.

"But that's part of football and that's what happened today. It's just disappointing."

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