Uruguay beat USMNT live updates (2024)

The United States was eliminated from the 2024 Copa America with a dismal 1-0 defeat by Uruguay which increased the pressure on beleaguered head coach Gregg Berhalter.

The USMNT needed to match or better Panama’s result against Bolivia with both Group C games played at the same time. And American hopes were raised when Bolivia hit back in the second half after conceding an early goal.

But moments later Uruguay scored against the USMNT in controversial circ*mstances, with Mathias Olivera’s tap-in allowed to stand despite the defender appearing to be in an offside position.

The USMNT failed to drag themselves back into the game and Panama went on to beat Bolivia 3-1, consigning Berhalter’s side to a humiliating early exit which could yet cost him his job ahead of the 2026 World Cup on home soil.

This loss means the U.S. limp out of the Copa América with just one win, over lowly Bolivia, and a lot of questions to answer. Chief among them is whether Gregg Berhalter will continue as coach of the national team.

If this tournament was about showing progress since the 2022 World Cup, it is difficult to say that the U.S. has taken steps forward. Even taking into account Tim Weah’s early red card in the Panama game, the U.S. was unable to see out a result and get a much-needed point to take some pressure off of the group finale.

Then, the U.S. not only didn’t get the needed win against Uruguay, but they also failed to get a result. While there were bright moments in the game, the U.S. couldn’t generate enough good goal-scoring chances.

Ultimately, bringing Berhalter back was a bet that the culture and continuity would help this group grow. If U.S. Soccer feels that growth isn’t happening, a change could be coming.

Referee Kevin Ortega looked out of his depth for much of what was a very high-paced affair.

The 32-year-old Peruvian official had overseen just seven international matches before Monday’s game, and this was his first game in the middle at Copa America. He was the fourth official for the USMNT’s 2-1 defeat by Panama and Venezuela’s 2-1 win over Ecuador earlier in the tournament. Ortega was the youngest official at the 2022 World Cup. Then aged only 30, he was the fourth official for five matches in Qatar — including the United States’ 1-0 win against Iran.

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From hope to dismay in the space of five frantic minutes. Soccer can be cruel.

First a wave of excitement crashed through the U.S. fans in Arrowhead Stadium as it emerged that Bolivia had equalized with Panama.

At 1-1 in Orlando and the contest in Kansas City still deadlocked, Berhalter’s men were going through to the next stage.

The manager appeared to signal that news to his captain Pulisic, in order to let his players know their efforts were leading the right way.

But like everything else in this frenetic see-saw contest, it was destined to change, and change fast. Five minutes later and VAR played its controversial part in breaking American hearts. Mathias Olivera bundled the ball over the line despite a strong suggestion that he was offside.

Broadcast viewers at the start of this game were given a disorienting bird’s-eye view that was comically similar to an aerial shot taken by a blimp. Per Fox, this is the angle that was given as the global feed, as determined by CONMEBOL. This wouldn’t likely have been most people’s pick — it certainly wasn’t the vantage point when Inter Miami played Sporting Kansas City at the same venue this spring.

Curiously, this was the exact same camera placement that the NFL uses for its “All 22” camera to track every player on the field’s every motion. Similarly, it was a nice novelty for any tactical nerds tuning in — and should save each team’s video analyst from hunting for supplemental shots.

Unfortunately for those intrepid analysts, South American football federation CONMEBOL, the organizers of Copa America, seemed to get the memo around the 39th minute, as it switched to that more tried-and-true two-thirds angle for the final minutes of the first half. Only time will tell if any young viewers of this game will go on to seek out tactical views on the back of this initial decision.

More from McKennie's conversation with The Athletic following the USMNT's elimination from Copa America: “We didn't want our journey to end like this so soon. We didn't expect it to end this early as well. None of us really know what we're going to do now, since we're out of the tournament, nobody had any plans because that wasn't the expectation."

On the biggest learning from this experience: "Just being clinical, finishing the chances that we get and if we're not doing that then doing everything we can to not become vulnerable to let it go.”

After the USMNT's defeat, Weston McKennie was asked by The Athletic whether Gregg Berhalter is the right man to continue leading the team.

"I believe we all have a comfort with Gregg and we all understand him and we've had him for a long time," McKennie said. "He's progressed the team very far from where we started off four or five years ago.

"And I think the connection that we have with him is what's important in having a coach that players that would run through a brick wall for him, players that listen to him. And so I think whatever happens, happens, but I think if he's the coach, we're all happy."

Speaking to The Athletic after the match, Chris Richards also said that luck had a lot to do with the USMNT's elimination.

Asked whether the US squad lacks quality and depth, he responded: "No, I think we have good depth. I think sometimes you just need everything to go right.

"Sadly, this wasn't what happened in this tournament. I think even defensively if you saw the goals against Panama, we could easily stop.

"And again, everything went right for Panama in those situations. So I know football is all about preparation, but it has a lot to do with luck as well."

Richards was also asked whether the US players are still following Gregg Berhalter's instructions, responding: "He's coach for a reason. You know, we don't have a coaching license, we weren't appointed coach.

"Gregg's in front of us and that's the guy we're following."

Speaking to The Athletic after the match, Chris Richards addressed the controversial refereeing decisions made tonight.

On Uruguay's goal: "It looked pretty offside but it sums up two poor refs in the last two games. Again, I think it's shocking having the fourth (official) of our last game as the ref of this game. But it is what it is at this point. It was a bad decision from the ref and again, we just have to do, we have to be better."

On the referee appearing to refuse to shake Christian Pulisic's hand after full time: "I mean, that sums up the sum of the tournament for us. The refs in the last two games especially have been very anti-USA. We expected that, we're playing on home soil and we're the best team in CONCACAF. So we expected that. But again, it still hurts regardless."

Speaking after the USMNT's elimination from Copa America, Gio Reyna and Matt Turner both pointed towards player performances and away from managerial decisions in assessing why the team underperformed.

Reyna: "I don't think this tournament really had anything to do with the staff or the tactics or the way you play. I think it was more individual, individual mistakes. And, you know, I think the staff can only do so much.

"We all have to find a way to get better and turn this around and sort of find a way to win these tough games."

Turner: “All the coaches can do is put you in the best position to have success and a lot of times we were in really good position to have success in every single game that we played this summer.”

The USMNT completed just 75% of their passes in this tournament, ranking ahead of only Ecuador and Peru.

Christian Pulisic lost possession 25 times tonight, the same number of passes he attempted.

After the match, referee Kevin Ortega appeared to refuse to shake the hand of Christian Pulisic.

During second-half stoppage time, Pulisic screamed in Ortega's face appealing for a penalty after going down in Uruguay's box, prompting the ref to yell back at him.

USMNT 0-1 Uruguay

• Expected goals: 0.56 - 1.40
• Shots: 8 - 12
• Shots on goal: 3 - 5
• Saves: 4 - 2
• Chances created: 6 - 8
• Possession: 49.7% - 50.3%
• Corners: 2 - 3
• Offsides: 1 - 0
• Fouls: 12 - 12
• Yellow cards: 2 - 1

The US's expected goals total of 0.56 is what really sticks out to me. In a game they knew they almost certainly had to win, that simply isn't good enough.

A funny moment from Panama's postgame press conference. Their manager Thomas Christiansen was asked who they would rather face in the quarterfinal, Brazil or Colombia.

His response? "Neither."

A perfect group stage for Uruguay, with three wins from three matches and a tournament-high nine goals.

This marks the first time since 1959 that Uruguay have opened a Copa America with three straight wins.

For a brief moment in the second halves of tonight's games, the USMNT were back in a position to advance to the knockout stage. Bolivia had leveled the score of their match against Panama at 1-1, and the US and Uruguay were still goalless.

That moment was short-lived, however, as Uruguay scored moments later to put Panama back on top of the US in the live table.

Gregg Berhalter, who appeared to be telling his players Bolivia had equalized right before the US conceded, was asked about that moment after the match, responding: "In the course of the game when Bolivia equalised it was (a case) of getting that information out that we want to be smart and solid because Panama is tied in the game."

More from Gregg Berhalter's press conference following the USMNT's elimination from Copa America: "We'll look at everything. We're not going to leave any stone unturned.

"It's not up to me (if he does the review)...at high-level football there's a very fine line between success and failure.

"It's not that you can say this program is doomed. It's not that at all.

"We did not perform up to expectations at all. We know we can do better, we believe in this team but that's the way it goes."

Asked if he still believes he's the right man/voice to lead the group, Berhalter simply replies: "Yes."

The USMNT's results when they're invited to Copa America are settling into an unfortunate pattern alternating between elimination at the group stage and reaching the semifinals.

• 1993: Group stage
• 1995: Fourth place
• 2007: Group stage
• 2016 on home soil: Fourth place
• 2024 on home soil: Group stage

I guess that means we should expect a competitive run to the semis the next time the USMNT participate in the tournament?!