The United States captain did not hide his anger after the loss, which stemmed from several decisions of the judges. One such verdict was the only goal in the match, scored by Mathías Olivera in the 66th minute.
The Uruguayan defender appeared to be in an offside position when he received the pass, but VAR cleared the situation and referee Ortega was not even invited to the monitor. However, there were more controversial decisions in the match, whether it was questionable card penalties or reversed situations.
It is therefore logical that the Americans, who are organizing the championship this year, were really angry. After the match, captain Christian Pulisic vehemently gestured to referee Ortega to run for the Uruguayan footballers, apparently to celebrate.
However, the AC Milan striker soon calmed down and headed to the gentlemen who decided the match with a handshake in reconciliation. Ortega, unlike his colleagues, rejected the gesture of reconciliation and did not shake hands with the US captain. This has sparked a wave of emotion on social media, with fans calling for punishment for the referee.
However, this is not the first time Judge Ortega has become the target of critics. In May 2022, he was at the center of a scandal after a match between Boca Juniors and the Bolivian club Always Ready. The Argentinian team won 1-0 thanks to a disputed penalty and after the match the police found several gifts from the winning club in the referee’s booth. However, representatives of Boca Juniors admitted that it was a friendly gesture and Ortega escaped without punishment.
Pulisic was sulking at the post-match press conference. But he was very well aware that his team’s relegation was not only due to officials, but above all to performances that were not satisfactory.
“Honestly, I’ve never seen this before. I can’t believe how the referee handled this match. But that’s not why we lost. We are not out of the home tournament because of the referees,” he acknowledged.
The USA soccer players last made it to the knockout stage of the tournament in 2016, when they finished fourth. The United States was absent from the 2019 and 2021 championships.
2024-07-02 10:32:42
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