The New Zealanders chose not to return to play the second period, indicating that one of their players, Michael Boxall, was the victim of racial slurs on Monday.
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The New Zealand football team abandoned a friendly match against Qatar on Monday (June 19th) in Vienna at the break, accusing a Qatari player of having hurled a racist insult at one of his players. “Michael Boxall was the victim of a racist insult in the first half by a Qatari player”tweeted the New Zealand Federation to justify the fact that its players did not return to the lawn after half-time. “The referee did not react, so the team chose not to return to play the second period of the match”adds the tweet.
The Portuguese coach of Qatar, Carlos Queiroz, spoke for his part at the microphone of the Qatari channel Al-Kass. “To our surprise, the New Zealand captain came to us to tell us that his team would not resume the game”he said. “Apparently two players exchanged words on the pitch. Who started, who answered? Only they know (…) There are no witnesses, the referee did not hear anything, the benches did not more. It’s just an argument between two players.”he continued. “Now let the football authorities make a decision (…) But without witnesses, I don’t know how Fifa will be able to make a decision”added Queiroz.
A friendly U21 already arrested for racist insults on Monday
That same Monday, a friendly match between the U21s of Ireland and the U22s of Kuwait, also in Austria, was also interrupted definitively after the Irish people denounced racist insults against one of their substitutes. The Irish Federation has announced that it will seize Fifa. The Irish led 3-0 at the time of the interruption, in the second half.