This is the remarkable moment Copa America referee Kevin Ortega refused to shake Christian Pulisic’s hand after a furious bust-up with the American captain.
The USA were dumped out of the tournament in embarrassing fashion on Monday night, with a 1-0 defeat confirming their exit in the group stages.
The loss in Kansas City was dominated by a series of baffling refereeing decisions throughout, which culminated in Pulisic squaring up to the official and screaming in his face.
At the end of the game at Arrowhead Stadium, Pulisic approached the Peruvian referee and his assistants, attempting to shake their hands. But Ortega instead opted to keep his hands behind his back and ignore the AC Milan star’s advances.
In a full clip of the incident, not initially shared by FOX Sports, Pulisic can be seen taunting the officials before reaching them, and he appears to gesture to the celebrating Uruguay players as if to ask: ‘Why aren’t you over there with them?’
Christian Pulisic was snubbed when he tried to shake referee Kevin Ortega’s hand at full-time
Pulisic looked furious as he spoke to all three officials at the end of the match in Kansas City
He appeared to gesture to the referee to go and celebrate with the victorious Uruguay players
The USMNT captain nevertheless shakes the hand of one of the linesmen.
He then moves down the line to shake hands with the main match referee, only to be ignored.
The camera then begins to pan away, but it appears the second linesman does shake Pulisic’s hand, meaning the referee was the only official to snub the USA captain.
During the game, USA fans and players alike were left furious by a series of amateurish mistakes from the referee.
During the game, the AC Milan midfielder had screamed in the face of Ortega after a decision
In the first half, Ortega booked Chris Richards and then inexplicably allowed play to continue
The main one came midway through the first half when USA and Crystal Palace defender Chris Richards fouled an opponent and was given a booking.
Incredibly, the referee pulled out the yellow card to book Richards, but then opted to play advantage to Uruguay, despite some of the USA players believing the match to have been stopped.
Uruguay’s winning goal also came via a suspect offside decision, with multiple replays appearing to show attacker Mathias Olivera fractionally offside before scoring the only goal of the game.
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