United States and Fulham left-back Antonee Robinson piled onto the criticism of referee Kevin Ortega after Monday's final Copa America group stage game against Uruguay.
The Americans suffered a stunning early exit from the tournament after falling 1-0 against La Celeste, a disappointing result impacted severely by a series of questionable refereeing decisions from the Peruvian official.
"I mean obviously we expect it coming into the game, but you can't be prepared," Robinson said to FOX Sports' Jenny Taft about Ortega's officiating. "I've never seen a ref give a yellow and play fast before he's written in the book. It's just little things like that that's just amateur hour. But you can't really blame the ref on the result. He definitely inhibited the flow of the game at times, but at the end of the day that results on us and we weren't good enough to get the result today."
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The incident Robinson pointed to came in the 32nd minute when Ortega reached into his pocket to award Chris Richards a yellow card for his clumsy midfield tackle. However, as Uruguayan players piled forward, the official stunningly allowed play to continue as only a heroic Tim Ream tackle prevented the visitors from taking an early lead.
Just 10 minutes later, a contrasting yet similarly bizarre decision from Ortega came as Christian Pulisic surged upfield in a promising attacking move, only to have the play called back for a minor foul against America in the defending third. Pulisic was visibly incensed at the officiating throughout the second half and, instead of sharing in the tears of his teammates, sought out the refereeing crew after the match.
The most controversial decision came in the second half and allowed Uruguay to score its lone goal of the match. Off a right-sided free-kick, Ronald Araujo flicked a front-post header goalward, and USMNT goalkeeper Matt Turner parried his save into the path of Mathias Olivera. Upon video review, the goalscorer appeared in an offside position when the Barcelona center-back made initial contact, but Ortega's crew elected not to overturn the decision.
The poor officiating prompted outrage from the online soccer community and several high-profile figures in U.S. Soccer. Alexi Lalas, a controversial FOX Sports pundit and near-100 cap veteran for the national team, used his platform to decry Ortega's officiating.
"Well let's use his full name: It's Kevin Paulo Ortega Pimentel," said Lalas at halftime. "Alright? You know when your parents get angry and they use your full name? Because this guy, this guy is completely out of his depth in this game and what he is doing.
"Now, this is not a reason for the US not being up, this is not a reason for the US not doing whatever it is, but this is a bad performance from the referee that is going to be part of the narrative. The other good side is, the US played a really, really good half."
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