For the Burkina Faso World Cup team it was a case so near and yet sofa.
After being eliminated from the competition by Algeria in the play offs they had lodged an appeal stating that Algeria captain Madjid Bougherra should not have been allowed to play as he had received two yellow cards in earlier stages of the competition.
The curt reply from FIFA read “no breach of the FIFA regulations has been committed” by Algerian officials. FIFA also said the “formal conditions to lodge a protest were not met.” World Cup regulations require eligibility protests during qualifying to be filed within one hour after matches – a deadline which apparently the Burkina Faso team were unable to meet.