In the 84th minute of the USA-Australia game, Nestory Irankunda went down in the box after a collision with Chris Richards and pleaded for a penalty. To his dismay, the referee simply waved it away and went on with the game as the hosts, the USMNT, registered a strong 2-0 victory. It was the theme of the day for Australia, and head coach Tony Popovic went as far as branding a reputed referee’s World Cup debut as not one of his best days.

Days after winning their World Cup opener 2-0 against Turkiye, Australia had a chance to progress to the knockouts against the USA. But a Cameron Burgess own-goal in the 11th minute threw their plans out the window. Alex Freeman, the son of the iconic NFL star Antonio Freeman, scored to make it 2-0 in the 43rd minute. The goal was initially ruled out for offside, but the VAR intervened to overturn the on-field decision. Speaking in the post-match conference, Popovic was furious with how the refereeing went on the day.

“I think today was, I wouldn’t say the best day for the referee,” he declared. “I thought the referee gave too many fouls away. Sometimes you didn’t have to do much to win a foul, and on the other occasions you had to do a fair bit to win one,” Popovic continued. He was spotted confronting Zwayer aggressively after the match ended.

Felix Zwayer, the 45-year-old German referee, made his World Cup debut when he led the USA and Australia onto the pitch. He officiated big games like the Der Klassiker, the Europa League final in 2025 and more during his 20-year career. The pressure of the occasion may have affected Zwayer; his decisions were inconsistent throughout.

Zwayer issued seven yellow cards during the game as it became the highest-carded match of the tournament yet. A confrontation between Folarin Balogun and Harry Souttar deserved yellow cards, but the referee was accused of calling soft fouls after being swayed by the home bench. The foul count read 16-12 in the USA’s favor.

Irankunda was blunt in his assessment of the referee’s performance. “The ref was having a stinker today. But it is what it is. He was giving every call to the USA. I get it, but, at the same time, there are two teams on the field, so you have to give the calls both ways. And he didn’t do that today.” Irankunda said as per AAP.

Antonee Robinson was lucky to avoid a second yellow card after catching Australia’s Christiano Volpato on the face with his arm. Inconsistencies like these invited the wrath of the fans. However, later in the second half, he went down with a cramp.

He needed help from Balogun and Aiden O’Neill to get back up after taking some hydration gels to finish the game. Zwayer’s infamous debut drew a comparison to Byron Moreno, an Ecuadorian referee, who was accused of favoring hosts South Korea during their controversial victory against Italy at the 2002 World Cup.

Zwayer’s mixed performance came shortly after Algeria launched a complaint to FIFA over inconsistent refereeing. Algeria were beaten 3-0 by Argentina through a Lionel Messi hat-trick. But they believed Lionel Messi should have been sent off for a rash challenge on Aissa Mandi in the 31st minute. Polish referee Szymon Marciniak failed to even card Messi, leading to massive protests.

From showing favoritism to big names and host nations, the referees are under increased scrutiny at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. FIFA will be looking to take more responsibility as the World Cup enters its second week.

Tony Popovic takes responsibility for Australia’s defeat

A tough defeat has set Australia’s knockout hopes back. Their goal difference was pegged back to zero as they remained second in the group behind the group winners, the USA. Popovic dropped Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe, the goalscorers from the Turkiye match, and had to explain his choices.

“We didn’t want to go with the same eleven, and you could see why today. Probably I should have made more (changes). When you look at how difficult (it was), we knew it would be a difficult match; we know the power that the US has,” he admitted the mistakes that cost them the game.

However, Australia did improve in the second half and were close to grabbing a goal that could’ve changed the game. It gave Popovic enough confidence about his team’s mentality.

“It was very encouraging for us, that entire second half from all the players. It’s easy to look at the players that came on, but the players that came back on in the second half were very impressive. So they made a reaction from the first half,” he added.

It gives Australia and Tony Popovic one last chance to fix their issues and seal knockout progression. They face Paraguay at Santa Clara on Friday. The South American nation picked up a shock 1-0 victory over Turkiye in their second match and are level on points with Australia. A win or draw advances them as group runners-up. A loss leaves them third, dependent on other results to qualify as one of eight best third-place teams.

Tony Popovic took over as the head coach of Australia in 2024. He built his managerial resume on integrating youth into the starting lineup and delivering results. Their first game was certainly impressive, but the brutal defeat to the USMNT showed the young squad still has a lot to learn. They will be keen to match the heroics of the class of 2022 by reaching the knockouts and build on it for the future.