New Zealand accuses the opposing player of ethnic defamation, and abandons the friendly against Qatar

The New Zealand national football team abandoned a friendly match against Qatar on Monday 19 June in Vienna at half-time, accusing a Qatari player of racially abusing one of its players. “Michael Boxall was the victim of a racist insult in the first half by a Qatari player”The New Zealand Football Association tweeted to justify the fact that their players did not return to the grass after half-time. “The referee did not respond, so the team chose not to return to play the second half of the match.”adds the tweet.

For his part, the Portuguese-Qatari coach Carlos Queiroz spoke into the microphone of the Qatari Al-Kass channel. “To our surprise, the New Zealand captain came to us to tell us that his team would not restart.”He said. “Apparently two players exchanged words on the pitch. Who started, who answered? Only they know (…) There are no witnesses, the referee didn’t hear anything, the seats are no longer the same. It’s just an altercation between two players.”is completed. “Now let the football authorities make a decision (…) but without witnesses, I don’t know how FIFA will be able to make a decision.”Keyrouz added.

The U21 friend was actually arrested for racial slurs on Monday

On the same Monday, a friendly match between Ireland U-21s and Kuwait U-22s, also in Austria, was stopped permanently after the Irish people denounced racist insults against one of their substitutes. The Irish FA announced that it would take over FIFA. The Irish led 3-0 at the time of the break, into the second period.