Fifa dismiss Costa Rica bid for replay with United States

Snow hit match in Colorado

FIFA has rejected a bid by Costa Rica to have their World Cup qualifier with USA replayed after going down 1-0 in a game played in heavy snow.

Costa Rica lodged a complaint about the match in Denver but FIFA said today the match stands.

A FIFA statement read: "FIFA has examined the content of the letter and, taking into consideration... World Cup regulations, has confirmed that the conditions established in the regulations for an official protest have not been met by the Costa Rica FA. "Therefore, the result of the match played on March 22 stands and is considered as valid."

As a result of the loss, Costa Rica are bottom of the final-round standings with just one point from two games.

Costa Rican FA president Eduardo Li said of the conditions: "It was terrible. While the match was being played, at the same time, machines and people came on to the field to clean the lines."

PA