Watch: Christian Pulisic snubbed by referee after USMNT exit
United States forward Christian Pulisic.
The U.S. Men's National Team (USMNT) crashed out of Copa America 2024 on Monday after suffering a 1-0 loss to Uruguay.
The loss was marred by controversy after referee Kevin Ortega allowed Mathias Olivera's strike to stand despite the Uruguayan left-back being offside moments before the goal. The decision was all the more egregious since a lengthy VAR review concluded without Ortega being sent to the video monitor.
After the game, USMNT captain Christian Pulisic was visibly upset with the referees as he gestured toward them and asked them to join Uruguay in its celebrations.
Pulisic then approached the referees and continued to chirp at them before offering to shake their hands. However, Ortega, the referee who held up Olivera's contentious goal, gave Pulisic the cold shoulder.
The tensions between Pulisic and Ortega escalated earlier in the game when the latter issued a yellow card to USMNT's Chris Richards, leading to a Uruguay free kick while also raising his other arm to indicate a "play on" signal.
Although Tim Ream made the vital free-kick save, the odd sequence led to several USMNT players getting in Ortega's face and yelling at him. There was another critical moment when Pulisic had an open lane down the right flank but was called for a handball by, you guessed it, Ortega.
To Pulisic's credit, he refused to blame officiating for USMNT's early exit from Copa America. However, the AC Milan star pointed to the lunacy of the VAR review not overturning Uruguay's 66th-minute goal.
"Honestly, I mean I saw things that I've never seen before right in front of my eyes today that I just I truly I can't believe," Pulisic told reporters, via ESPN. "It's not why we lost; we're not out of this tournament because of officiating. But really, I've just seen things that I just really — I mean I think everyone can just give admit I don't know what I'm looking at. I don't know what they're calling. I don't know what he's — he gives no explanation. He's doing things that I just can't accept."
The USMNT had a difficult path of making the knockout stages after suffering a 2-1 loss to Panama in its second group-stage match. It needed to score twice and beat Uruguay to qualify, especially after Panama's 3-1 win over Bolivia earlier in the day.
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