The United States crashed out of the Copa America on Monday night after losing 1-0 to Uruguay — but Mathias Olivera’s winning goal for Marcelo Bielsa’s side was controversial.
Olivera slotted home in the 66th minute after Ronald Araujo’s header was saved by U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner. But some angles seemed to suggest the Napoli left-back was offside in the build-up to the goal, which was upheld after a VAR review.
CONMEBOL has now released video and audio of the review that took place. So what happened and how did the officials come to the decision to let Olivera’s effort stand?
According to IFAB, the board that sets the laws of football, a player is offside if any part of their head, body or feet is nearer to the opponent’s goal-line than both the ball and the second-last opponent. A player is not offside if they are level with the second-last opponent or the last two opponents.
In the 65th minute of the match, Uruguay were awarded a free-kick after a foul from Giovanni Reyna on right-back Nahitan Nandez. Attacking midfielder Nicolas de la Cruz swung in a free-kick which Araujo headed towards goal. Turner saved the first effort but could not keep out Olivera’s follow-up.
The first angle of the goal shows the moment De la Cruz puts in the cross — with just one Uruguay player seemingly off on the far side of play. The Ecuadorian video assistant referee Carlos Orbe asks to see the “point of contact” and says “I want to see who plays it”, referring to Araujo. The Peruvian on-field referee Kevin Ortega can be heard saying in English “Possible offside, but we are checking — OK? Thank you.”
Orbe asks to see a close-up of the initial contact, which appears to show Olivera straying into an offside position behind the USMNT defence. One of the assistant referees says it is “completely fine”.
As the video switches to another angle, Ortega says that the “second action” where Olivera scores is “tight”. The Ecuadorian assistant VAR Bryan Loayza confirms they are checking the “penalty area situation” for a possible offside.
The VAR officials begin to draw up two lines to determine whether Olivera is offside at the point of Araujo’s header. They place a horizontal blue line across the pitch in line with U.S. defender Chris Richards’ left boot and a vertical red one in line with Olivera’s knee. “We are checking, OK, it’s possible,” Ortega says in English on the pitch.
The assistant VAR Loyoza says they will need “more time” and asks Ortega to signal that. A single blue line shows that Richards’ foot — or toe — is in line with Olivera’s knee. Orbe says “this is an overlie (overlap) and it’s fine”.
Orbe then says that the “second situation is fine, I’m about to revise the first one” as he is shown the first angle of De la Cruz’s ball into the box. “The second one has been checked, we’re going to do the first one (involving) Araujo,” Ortega says on the pitch in Spanish. Another blue line is drawn across the pitch for the moment the cross comes in, zooming in to a cluster of players to make sure it is drawn from any part they could score with.
Ortega can be heard saying “It’s very tight, it’s very tight! They’re drawing the lines”. The VAR Orbe says this angle — in line with the goal — is the “best one” and the lines are drawn again for Araujo’s header. The horizontal blue one is placed in line with Richards’ foot and the vertical red one is placed in line with Olivera’s knee. Loyaza tells the on-field referee that they’re “two tight situations”.
Orbe confirms that he can see an overlap on both angles, meaning Olivera is not offside. He asks for the video to be played on to show the moment Olivera scores and confirms it is a goal with Ortega. “The two situations are tight, but they’re onside,” the VAR says.
The final result meant the U.S. were unable to match or better Panama’s 3-1 win against Bolivia and finished third in their group. But their complaints about Ortega — who made a number of strange refereeing decisions apart from this one — are unlikely to go away.
(Top photo: Shaun Clark/Getty Images)
