Banned Moss: NZF let me down

New Zealand's No1 goalkeeper, Glen Moss, is angry at New Zealand Football for not appealing in time against the four-match ban that has ruined his World Cup dream.

Stuff.co.nz will have full rolling coverage of the All Whites v Bahrain qualifier on Sunday morning, including interviews and reports by reporter Tony Smith at the match.

As the All Whites get ready to play Bahrain in Sunday's World Cup qualifier, Moss is preparing to watch what would have been the biggest game of his life over the internet at his Melbourne home.

Moss was last year sent off in a dead-rubber World Cup qualifier against Fiji for saying "the F-bomb" to the referee, earning an excessive four-match ban from Fifa.

NZF failed to lodge an appeal in time, but say they never received the original fax from Fifa. When they got it on December 23, they were shutting down for Christmas, and a "combination of events" then conspired against Moss.

This has left Moss on the sidelines for the two qualifiers against Bahrain and, if the All Whites qualify, the first two group matches of next year's World Cup. Moss had maintained silence, hoping to find another avenue of appeal, but told The Dominion Post he felt the entire process had been botched. He also said the governing body had let him and the All Whites down.

"I have admitted what I did was wrong. It was a stupid thing, but four games was a bit harsh and it should have been appealed," said Moss, arguably New Zealand's best player at the Confederations Cup in South Africa.

Zinedine Zidane received only a three-match ban for his infamous headbutt in the 2006 World Cup final, and Moss has since been told by a Fifa official that there would have been a good chance his ban would have been reduced to "one or two" games.

"[NZF chief executive] Michael Glading didn't even inform me that I had received the suspension in the first place," Moss said.

"It was only when I went to the NZPFA [Professional Footballers Association] that I found out about it, and found out NZF had not appealed in the time limit.

"Glading's excuse was that it was over Christmas and there was nobody in the office, which is the most unprofessional thing I've heard.

"[Fifa] were dumbfounded about it as well. It was up to NZF and they pretty much let me down, and now they've let the team down as well.

"It's disappointing, the way the whole situation has been handled. Could you imagine if it had been a Socceroo? I can't believe it was forgotten about and not looked into."

Several All Whites spoken to are known to be livid over Moss' plight but were unwilling to comment for obvious reasons.

"It's a shame that it's happened because it obviously doesn't give the players a lot of confidence in the federation," Moss said, "but hopefully they've learned from their mistake now. Unfortunately for me, I'm the guinea pig."

Glading replied: "I wrote to Fifa and said something like, `we plan to dispute this' and left it till post-Christmas. In hindsight, I should written a one-line fax – `we hereby lodge an appeal' – and that same day transferred the appeal money [10,000 Swiss francs].

"When we did lodge the money after Christmas, they heard the appeal, and then decided the appeal was invalid."

He accepted Moss' "obvious disappointment" but said abuse of referees was sacrosanct in Fifa's eyes. "The reality is he wouldn't have been playing this game anyway. They did throw the book at him, and that's harsh, but it doesn't change the facts."

- © Fairfax NZ News