Bungle sours World Cup dream for Moss

Melbourne Victory goalkeeper Glen Moss admits to mixed feelings as his New Zealand countrymen vie for a historic World Cup berth, after an administrative bungle cost him his spot.

If the All Whites beat Bahrain in Wellington on November 14, they will reach the World Cup for the first time since 1982 and only the second time ever.

But a four-match suspension picked up from NZ's final match of their Oceania qualifying campaign means Moss can not play and could also deny him his World Cup dream, if NZ make it.

Moss freely admits that he was wrong to swear at a referee in last November's dead rubber against Fiji, the incident which sparked the ban.

But tougher to swallow is the New Zealand Football oversight, which led to them missing their chance to reduce its severity.

Under FIFA rules, they had a limited time to appeal after the suspension was received, but after that period elapsed Moss discovered officials had failed to act.

"Their excuse I think was the Christmas-New Year break, all the chickens in the (NZ Football) office had left the coop for that period, so the suspension sat there on the desk," Moss said on Wednesday.

"When I asked the NZ PFA (players association) how it was all coming along, they looked into it and said there hadn't actually been anything done, it was still sitting on a desk.

"There was nothing I could do about it."

Through the PFA, Moss hired his own legal team.

Despite indications from FIFA officials that the ban would have been reduced on appeal, given NZ's relatively small number of qualifying matches exacerbated its severity, he was told it was too late.

He missed October's first leg of the home and away World Cup play-off against Bahrain - a scoreless draw in Manama - will sit out the Wellington clash and then two World Cup matches, should NZ progress.

He is unsure whether that will cost him what would have been a certain spot in NZ's World Cup squad.

"It is hard because you know you should be there, it's one of those things you dream about as a kid, coming up through the under 17s and 20s and then when I broke into the national team and I've kind of been there ever since, it's a tough way to go out," Moss said.

He said World Cup qualification would do "amazing" things for football in New Zealand.

"Obviously the money that would come in would help NZ Football maybe run the show a little bit better."

- AAP