After losing 1-0 to Uruguay on Monday, the United States was eliminated from the Copa America while Panama advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-1 victory over Bolivia.
The tournament hosts were defeated 2-1 by Panama last week, and they needed to match or surpass Panama’s outcome against Bolivia in order to move on to Monday’s final Group C match at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
However, US coach Gregg Berhalter’s team never seemed to be up to the task of genuinely challenging Uruguay, who won their group and move on to the final eight.
“Just looking at the faces of the staff and the players, we’re bitterly disappointed with the results,” Berhalter said.
“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.”
USA captain Christian Pulisic blamed a lack of attacking quality.
“We had a good start and brought a lot of energy, but just didn’t have enough quality,” he said. “We just couldn’t find a solution.”
Hopes of a great escape for Berhalter’s men faded inside the first 30 minutes as news filtered through that Panama had taken a 1-0 lead against Bolivia in Orlando.
US hopes were revived early in the second half after Bolivia equalised, leaving the hosts on course for qualification, provided they continued to hold Uruguay.
Yet the US optimism was punctured just moments later when Uruguay took the lead in controversial circumstances through Mathias Olivera on 66 minutes.
– ‘Pretty crazy’ –
Ronald Araujo’s powerful header from Nicolas de la Cruz’s free kick was parried away by US goalkeeper Matt Turner, but only into the path of Olivera, who tucked away the rebound.
Replays appeared to show that Olivera was offside when Araujo first made contact with the ball, but despite a lengthy VAR review, Peruvian referee Kevin Ortega ruled that the goal should stand.
