Watch: Christian Pulisic snubbed by referee after USMNT exit

The tensions between Pulisic and Ortega escalated earlier in the game when the latter issued a yellow card to USMNT's Chris Richards, leading to a Uruguay free kick while also raising his other arm to indicate a "play on" signal. 

Although Tim Ream made the vital free-kick save, the odd sequence led to several USMNT players getting in Ortega's face and yelling at him. There was another critical moment when Pulisic had an open lane down the right flank but was called for a handball by, you guessed it, Ortega. 

To Pulisic's credit, he refused to blame officiating for USMNT's early exit from Copa America. However, the AC Milan star pointed to the lunacy of the VAR review not overturning Uruguay's 66th-minute goal.  

"Honestly, I mean I saw things that I've never seen before right in front of my eyes today that I just I truly I can't believe," Pulisic told reporters, via ESPN. "It's not why we lost; we're not out of this tournament because of officiating. But really, I've just seen things that I just really — I mean I think everyone can just give admit I don't know what I'm looking at. I don't know what they're calling. I don't know what he's — he gives no explanation. He's doing things that I just can't accept."

The USMNT had a difficult path of making the knockout stages after suffering a 2-1 loss to Panama in its second group-stage match. It needed to score twice and beat Uruguay to qualify, especially after Panama's 3-1 win over Bolivia earlier in the day.