The U.S. men’s national team crashed out of the Copa América on house soil on the group stage after a 1-0 loss to Uruguay at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, on Monday.
Mathías Olivera scored the decisive objective for Uruguay within the 66th minute after a protracted verify by the video assistant referee for offside and widespread protests from the U.S. after the objective was given, seemingly by the best of margins.
Nevertheless, with Panama beating Bolívia 3-1 within the different closing sport of Group C going down concurrently, a win would have been wanted for the U.S. to advance behind group winners Uruguay in second place.
After a shock 2-1 loss to Panama in its final sport, the U.S. went into the conflict in opposition to one of many pre-tournament favorites realizing it needed to match or higher Panama’s end in its sport in opposition to Bolivia, one of many match’s weakest groups.
As a substitute Panama goes via to the quarterfinals and, for the primary time in its historical past, the USMNT has been eradicated from the group stage of a senior males’s match it hosted.
Within the earlier Copa América hosted within the U.S., the USMNT reached the semifinals.
Invoice Barrett/ISI Pictures/USSF/Getty Pictures for USSF
The U.S. went into Monday’s sport with out the suspended Tim Weah following his pink card in opposition to Panama.
And, in a bruising first half, the U.S. misplaced striker Folarin Balogun to damage, with Ricardo Pepi being introduced on as a substitute.
Uruguay additionally suffered a first-half damage when winger Maximiliano Araújo was stretchered off after showing to be briefly knocked unconscious.
In the course of the chaos was 32-year-old Peruvian referee Kevin Ortega, who made a number of questionable calls that harm the U.S.
The primary got here when Ortega started to tug a yellow card and cease play, then allowed it to proceed — whereas nonetheless holding the cardboard — as Uruguay almost scored on an assault. The second got here when the U.S. had a transparent benefit after a handball on Uruguay, however the referee finally blew his whistle and referred to as the play again for a free kick.
Uruguay began to use extra stress halfway via the second half and scored when Nicolas de la Cruz swung a free kick in entrance of the U.S. objective.
Matt Turner parried a header by Ronald Araújo, who outjumped defender Tim Ream, however the rebound went proper to Olivera, who tapped the ball in along with his left foot.
The People have been in desperation mode after Olivera’s objective. And whereas the U.S. had just a few good runs and a few good alternatives within the field, a crew that had such large expectations was unable to seek out the 2 targets it wanted — and even one.
The U.S. struggled to create clear scoring alternatives all through the match and completed third within the group with three factors.
The Copa América represented the most important check for the U.S. forward of internet hosting the 2026 World Cup alongside Mexico and Canada.
Info from The Related Press contributed to this report.
