In November 2008, Glen Moss was handed a 4-match World Cup ban after swearing at referee Lencie Fred in a dead-rubber 2010 World Cup qualification match against Fiji. New Zealand Football failed to lodge an appeal to FIFA in time after they received notification of the sentence on 23 December and were closing for the Christmas period. Moss was subsequently suspended for the two 2010 FIFA World Cup inter-confederation play off matches against Bahrain and the first two 2010 FIFA World Cup matches against Slovakia and Italy.