New Zealand cancels Qatar friendly over racism allegations.
New Zealand's football team abandoned their friendly match against Qatar at half-time after accusing a Qatari player of making a racist comment to defender Michael Boxall. The team refused to play the second half in Austria on Monday after the referee refused to take action. Qatar's newly appointed coach Carlos Queiroz said the New Zealand captain informed them of his team's decision not to return. The incident was one of two in Austria on Monday, with Ireland's football association saying its under-21 team abandoned a match against Kuwait's Olympic side after a Kuwaiti player used racist language towards an Irish substitute.
