A Costa Rica soccer federation official told domestic media that the protest would be made Saturday, Reuters reported. Costa Rica has 24 hours to file a written protest with FIFA.

Plows and shovels were used to clear the penalty areas, center circle and midfield stripe as snow got heavier, and a yellow-and-purple ball was used.

Ten minutes into the second half, Costa Rica coach Jorge Luis Pinto wanted referee Joel Aguilar of El Salvador and match commissioner Victor Daniel of Grenada to suspend the game, but U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann made a case for playing on.

Play continued after some heated discussion. Pinto was angry during and after the game.

“I asked them to stop. They should suspend the ref,” Pinto said. “It was an embarrassment. It was an insult to Costa Rica and people coming in here.”

The Denver area was bracing for 6 to 12 inches of snow early Saturday morning and the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning shortly before the game ended, according to the Denver Post. The service expected the heaviest snow to fall to the north and east of Denver, where Dick’s Sporting Goods Park is located, the newspaper reported.

Pinto said the “legal conditions” for playing were not met, according to Reuters.

Visibility in the Denver area dropped from two miles at the end of the first half to a half-mile an hour later, according to the National Weather Service.

“You couldn’t see the lines. You couldn’t see the ball. You couldn’t play,” Costa Rica midfielder Michael Barrantes said.

Costa Rica players didn’t complain much during the game, but expressed frustration afterward.

“Honestly, it was robbery, a disgrace, I’ve never played a game in these conditions,” midfielder Cristian Bolanos told Reuters. “You couldn’t see the ball … if we had played without snow, we would have won, I am sure.”

One other World Cup qualifying match, between Northern Ireland and Russia, was postponed Friday — and again Saturday — because of snow in Belfast.

U.S. federation president Sunil Gulati said the referee made the right decision to continue playing Friday.

“Frankly, (stopping) would not have been to the advantage of either of the two teams, since they both play on Tuesday,” Gulati told reporters. “Obviously you worry about the safety of players and being able to see the ball. The referee and the match commissioner made the decision that the game could continue and I think it was the right decision.”

Gulati said the U.S. chose to play the game in Colorado in preparation for the altitude in Tuesday’s game in Mexico City, and not to put its Central American opponent at a disadvantage with uncomfortable weather.

Mexico City is about a half-mile higher above sea level than the mile-high conditions around Denver.

“If the thought is that we want to play Costa Rica in a situation where it could snow, then there are some places that maybe could have been better, like Boston or somewhere,” Gulati said, according to Reuters.

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Those not playing may want to sit on the heated benches — or next to the electric heaters — because the game-time temperature when the Broncos host the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC divisional playoffs is expected to be 17 degrees, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Kalina.

In other words, “bundle up,” Kalina said.

The coldest postseason contest at Mile High was 18 degrees for the 1977 AFC Championship Game, when Denver beat Oakland 20-17.

The chilliest home game ever in Denver? That would be 9 degrees against San Diego on Dec 10, 1972.

Being such a meticulous planner, Manning left nothing to chance in the weeks leading up this game. To prepare for the possibility of wintry weather, the four-time NFL MVP wore an orange-and-gray glove on his throwing hand the last two games. Manning has been quite effective, too, with the glove — his completion percentage has been almost 6 points better and his passer rating almost 20 points higher than without it.

The stickiness of the glove also helps Manning better grip the football, especially these days after the multiple neck surgeries he underwent during his season out of football.

“I certainly don’t think I would have had to wear the glove had I not been injured last year,” Manning said. “It’s part of my injury, some things that I’ve had to adjust. I’m in a different body. Some things are different for me, so that’s the reason for that as much as anything.”

The cool weather certainly hasn’t been friendly to Manning, who’s 0-3 in playoff games in which the temperature at kickoff is less than 40 degrees.

And this game will certainly be well south of that number.

“It’s going to be very cold,” Kalina said. “There may even be a few flakes, but it shouldn’t affect the game. Just really cold.”

This isn’t even close to the coldest game in NFL history, though. That distinction belongs to “The Ice Bowl” on Dec. 31, 1967, when the temperature at Lambeau Field reached minus-13 (with a minus-48 wind chill) in a contest between Green Bay and Dallas.

All week, Broncos players boasted about wearing short-sleeves despite the cool conditions. It was simply a matter of convincing the mind it really wasn’t all the frigid.

“Once you get out there, you’re on the field, you’re just fine,” Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas said earlier this week. “But if you’re just sitting around, that’s when it gets to you. As long as you’re out there on the field and warm, you’re good.”

The field should be in solid shape, though, with more than 20 miles of water-heated tubing under the field to keep it from freezing.

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