Despite coming into the Copa America 2024 with a lot of hype, the USMNT had a tournament to forget failing to pass the group stage hurdle.
A 1-0 loss to Uruguay on Monday night meant that Uruguay and Panama qualified from Group C while the United States ended up in third place.
Heading into the game, the USMNT were level on points with Panama, but had a better goal difference. With Panama facing Bolivia in the other group game, theTeam USA needed to at least emulate Panama's result to go through.
Panama managed to ensure a 3-1 victory with two late goals, while the U.S. lost out to Uruguay thanks to an extremely controversial goal by Mathias Olivera.
It all started with a Nicolas de la Cruz free kick that was headed on goal by Ronald Araujo where it was blocked by Matt Turner. Unfortunately, Olivera was on hand to turn in the rebound opportunity to give Uruguay the lead.
The problem arose after a VAR review was done and video evidence appeared to show that Olivera was in an offside position when Araujo had touched the ball. Despite this, the goal was allowed to stand and the USMNT players were quite visibly furious
Christian Pulisic urges ref Ortega to celebrate with Uruguay
The drama continued after the final whistle as the Uruguay players started celebrating. USA captain Christian Pulisic was seen pointing towards the Uruguay players and asking referee Kevin Ortega to join in the celebrations.
I think Christian Pulisic just told the refs to go celebrate with Uruguay after their horrible performance in the USMNT's Copa America game 😂 pic.twitter.com/10Vv3TnzQO
— absolute toast (@Absolute_Toast) July 2, 2024
As per a report by the Dailymail, Pulisic had told the referee, "Why aren't you over there with them?" Following this, the referee refused to shake hands with the former Chelsea player – something that was caught on camera and instantly went viral.
I put both videos together uninterrupted: Pulisic appears to be gesturing for the referee to go celebrate with Uruguay which may help explain his refusal to shake hands pic.twitter.com/otrmIlhVOZ
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) July 2, 2024
While most USMNT fans have been blaming the referee for his dismal performance, others have claimed that it is the USA team and no one else who are to blame for their premature exit from the Copa America. Their unexpected loss to Panama in the second match had already paved the way to the exit door.