Costa Rica Protest Shot Down, USA Win Stands.

Geoff Cameron in the snow last week at the Dick. (Washington Post)

Last week's World Cup Qualifier at between the USA and Costa Rica will be forever etched in most of our memories.  The USA pulled out a hard fought 1-0 win on home soil in the midst of a huge snow storm, earning their first win of the 2013 Hexagonal. 

Well, as it turns out, Costa Rica were not quite as thrilled with the conditions under which the game was played in Commerce City, Colorado.  They filed a protest with FIFA, seeking to have the match replayed.  FIFA confirmed the receipt of the protest on Monday, but shot it down on technicalities rather quickly on Tuesday.  As it turns out, the captain of the team filing the protest needs to have a meeting on the field about the conditions and this must include the captain of the other team.  This never took place.  Also, according to FIFA regulations, the formal protest must be filed within two hours after the end of the match.  FIFA did not receive the protest until two days after the match.  This has resulted in the match, and the USA's win, being upheld.

The fact that none of this took place really underlines the fact that the only reason the Ticos bothered to file a protest was because they lost.  Early on in the second half, the referee stopped the match, ostensibly to allow for the clearing of the lines on the pitch.  ESPN reported that the FIFA match delegate had called for the match to be stopped.  However, from the appearance on TV, it seemed that players from both the USA and Costa Rica were anxious to continue.  After a few minutes the ref restarted the match.  It's worth noting that at the time the match was halted, Costa Rica totally had the run of play and was in the midst of their best spell of the night.  Surely had they managed to fight back for a draw, such a protest never would have been made.

So who knows what actually went on outside of the players and the match officials?  Many folks, including myself, lauded the fact that Costa Rica was willing to soldier on in the match.  They put out a valiant effort all match long and nearly equalized a couple of times.  It's also worth nothing that both squads have games today (Tuesday) that required a fair bit of international travel.  The forecast in Colorado didn't call for conditions to really improve until Sunday morning, so both teams probably wanted to get out of Dodge.

The protest doesn't really change my opinion of the Costa Rican players.  As I said, they gave it their all, probably more than many teams in CONCACAF would have.  I am disappointed that the squad, or likely the Costa Rican FA, decided to file the protest, but in the end I'm happy with the result.  Onwards and Upwards and good luck to the boys in the Azteca.  They're going to need it.