KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The United States men’s national team was officially eliminated from the 2024 Copa America on Monday night following a 1-0 loss to Uruguay in Kansas City.
But late in the match, a difficult moment between American star Christian Pulisic and the referee perfectly summed up how frustrated they were with the way the match at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium was handled.
Pulisic was seen almost taunting official Kevin Ortega as he tried to encourage him to go celebrate with Uruguay on the pitch. Then, after Pulisic shook hands with a linesman, Ortega refused to follow suit.
support Reddit on this, Fox Soccer edited this video showing that Pulisic was gesturing to the referees to celebrate with the Uruguayan team, but cut the beginning because they are clearly feeding off the feeling of anger, get these impressions and create the narrative pic.twitter.com/a3Nzpe4UEQ
-Douglas Reyes-Ceron (@dreyesceron) July 2, 2024
“Yeah, he didn’t shake my hand,” Pulisic said. “But it’s normal. I mean, I guess.”
While there are many decisions that could be criticized, fair or not, there were two main instances of questionable moments with the refereeing in the match. One of them led to Uruguay’s only goal.
In the second half, Uruguayan Mathías Olivera was barely on the field when he scored, which was confirmed by a video analysis. By the time the Fox announcers were talking during the replay, however, it seemed clear that he was one of two players offside – which would have disallowed the goal.
In the first half, there was a moment when Ortega asked for a foul, but then he let the game continue. Ortega drew a free kick on US defender Chris Richards and clearly drew a yellow card for his charge, but suddenly deflected it away as Uruguay continued and almost scored a goal. Tim Ream managed to recover and clear the ball, but the entire US team stopped play when Ortega made his first call.
Pulisic’s frustration seemed to boil over in the final moments of the match. He was seen shouting at Ortega and following him after not receiving a call in stoppage time.
“Honestly, I mean, I saw things I’ve never seen before, right before my eyes today, that I really can’t believe,” Pulisic said. “That’s not why we lost. We’re not out of this tournament because of the refereeing. But really, I just saw things that – seriously, I mean… I don’t know what I’m seeing, I don’t know how they’re calling it, he He doesn’t give any explanation, he’s doing things that I just can’t – I can’t accept.”
Pulisic wasn’t alone after the match either. Antonee Robinson also destroyed the refereeing, especially when it came to the yellow card in the first half.
“It was exhausting,” Robinson said. “The referee clearly has no idea what he is doing, he doesn’t know how to control the game… This referee was horrible. I’ve never seen a referee let a quick free kick slip while he had a yellow card in his hand. It’s literally embarrassing. [I] I hope something happens to him from this.”
As Pulisic and Robinson noted, the United States’ exit from the tournament wasn’t just about refereeing. They lost 2-1 to Panama last week in group play, making the match against Uruguay a must-win.
But with several questionable moments and the handshake incident at the end, it’s no wonder Pulisic and others were upset with officials on Monday night.
