Qatar vs New Zealand: The exhibition match between New Zealand and Qatar was stopped at halftime. The New Zealand internationals did not come out of the dressing room for the second half after a racist incident, which may have involved a Qatar player.
New Zealand refuses to play second half against Qatar after racism
New Zealand was halfway on a 0-1 lead in Austria, where the friendly match was played. However, it was not about football in the New Zealand locker room. Michael Boxall indicated that he had been racially abused by an opponent five minutes before half-time.
Captain Joe Bell raised the situation with the referee, who did not intervene. New Zealand then decided not to play the second half. The country’s players’ union has supported the players, Qatar national coach Carlos Queiroz indicated after the first half that he hopes FIFA will look into this matter.
Finland is currently leading Group H. On Monday they had no problem with San Marino: 6-0. At the end of the evening it turned out that they had to share their place at the top, but with a very surprising team. Kazakhstan is also on nine points after a stolen victory in Belfast. Denmark has to step up a gear: 1-1 in Slovenia.
Finland 6-0 San Marino
Finland did not have a child from San Marino, as no one expected. At halftime the margin was already safely at 2-0, after which Daniel Hakans scored a hat-trick in ten minutes in what was only his second international match. Good old Teemo Pukki then made his second and Finland’s sixth to complete the tennis result. Finland has nine points from four games and is leading the group.
Slovenia 1-1 Denmark
Slovenia achieved a very nice result against Denmark. Andraz Sparar gave the home team the lead from a free position. A ticker by angry young man Rasmus Højlund, who chose a good position, determined the final score in Ljubljana at 1-1, both teams came very close to a winning one. Both teams have seven points from four games and are behind the surprising leader Finland.
Northern Ireland 0-1 Kazakhstan
In an atmospheric Windsor Park, Northern Ireland pounded on the gate at their visitors, but they did not find an opening on this Monday evening in Belfast. In the absolute final phase, they received another merciless blow on the nose: Abat Aymbetov made sure that Kazakhstan took the full spoils and the lead in this group (together with Finland) with a great goal. Michael O’Neill’s team already has extremely cloudy prospects for the final round in Germany with three points from four games.
