Fans are calling for a referee from Monday night’s Copa America showdown between the United States and Uruguay to be investigated following his questionable actions after the game.
FOX Sports highlighted the official for refusing to shake captain Christian Pulisic’s hand following USA’s 1-0 loss, sparking outrage on social media.
Check it out below:
“The match was clearly fixed once you know the history of this “referee,” a user wrote.
“This is rubbish,” said another. “Imagine it was Pulisic who refused a handshake, the narrative would be racism. Seeing lots of comments criticising Pulisic screaming at the ref a few mins before the handshake.
“It’s football and anything happens within 90 mins and after that, you move. Disgusting gesture from the referee.”
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You can see some more reactions below:
The Copa America Hosts Are Out Of The Competition
The 1-0 loss ensured the USA’s exit from the Copa America, with Panama sealing passage via a 3-1 win over Bolivia.
The former surprisingly lost to Panama last week and headed into Monday’s game needing to either match or top Panama’s result vs. Bolivia to progress.
“Just looking at the faces of the staff and the players, we’re bitterly disappointed with the results,” head coach Gregg Berhalter said, per ESPN.
“We know that we’re capable of more and in this tournament we didn’t show it. It’s really as simple as that. We should have done better.
“We’ll do a review and figure out what went wrong, why it went wrong, but it’s an empty feeling right now for sure.”
Pulisic chalked it up to a lack of quality.
“We had a good start and brought a lot of energy, but just didn’t have enough quality,” he remarked. “We just couldn’t find a solution.”
