Russia World Cup match postponed

Russia World Cup match postponed

Fabio Capello's Russia will have to wait 24 hours to play their World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland after Friday's clash was postponed due to heavy snow in Belfast.

Pedestrians walk through the snow in Belfast City centre in Northern Ireland today. Fabio Capello's Russia will have to wait 24 hours to play their World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland after the clash was postponed due to heavy snow in Belfast.

Former England coach Capello and his players trained on Thursday ahead of the qualifier, but overnight snow and rain, which persisted during Friday afternoon, made the Windsor Park pitch unplayable.

Norwegian referee Tom Hagen and a team of match delegates made a series of inspections starting from 1000GMT, but the decision was finally made to call off the game at 1430GMT

The fixture has been rescheduled for 1500GMT on Saturday as officials believe the worst of the snow will have passed by then.

It is the first time a competitive international fixture in Belfast has had to be called off because of the weather.

The postponement also means Capello's team will have less time to recover before their glamour friendly against Brazil at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge on Monday.

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