Celtic now only have one player involved in a major international tournament this summer after the United States crashed out of Copa America overnight.

The Stars and Stripes lost 1-0 to Uruguay courtesy of a 66th-minute winner from Matheus Olivera. This capped a disappointing group stage in which they registered just three points owing to a comfortable triumph over Bolivia on matchday one.

Last week, a damaging 2-1 defeat to Panama sent shockwaves through the tournament. Cameron Carter-Vickers came off the bench for the second half; however, Gregg Berhalter’s side put themselves up against it heading into their loss against the group winners, managed by the great Marcelo Bielsa.

Despite being the host nation, they have now been eliminated and Carter-Vickers and company will take time to recuperate ahead of the forthcoming campaign. Nevertheless, they have cause to feel extremely hard done by following a controversial moment that changed the course of the match.

United States wronged by controversial goal award

It is easy to blame hard luck on external factors; nevertheless, the United States have a valid excuse to be ticked off following Olivera’s goal, which was awarded despite the Napoli man being offside alongside one of his teammates.

As seen below via Premier Sports on social media platform X, both individuals are offside in the frame, though that didn’t stop the goal from being given by referee Kevin Ortega.

Frustratingly, this proved to be the host nation’s undoing, as they couldn’t respond on a day that put the final nail in their Copa America ambitions.

On the balance of play, it is important to point out that Uruguay were the better side. Per Fotmob, they had 12 shots on goal to the United States’ eight efforts, creating two ‘big chances’ compared with none from the home side.

Carter-Vickers didn’t play a single minute of the clash. Berhalter started with Tim Ream and Chris Richards before the former was brought off for Malik Tillman in a last-ditch attempt to salvage a result. Ultimately, it would’ve proved meaningless due to Panama’s 3-1 triumph over Bolivia, which sent them through.

The Celtic man will now enjoy a well-deserved rest for a couple of weeks before reporting to pre-season, potentially returning Stateside for the Hoops’ pre-season tour.

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