Socceroos coach Tony Popovic got into a heated exchange with the match officials following Australia’s World Cup loss to co-hosts the United States in Seattle on Saturday morning AEST — and star winger Nestory Irankunda slammed the referee for a “stinker”.

Afterwards, Popovic unloaded with a barely-veiled perception that referees often favour bigger nations: “Today was I wouldn’t say the best day for the referee. Certainly we felt we were Australia today with the referees.”

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Irankunda fired similar shots post-match, saying the Americans got far more calls from referee Felix Zwayer.

“The ref was having a stinker today,” Irankunda said, per AAP.

“But it is what it is. He was giving every call to the USA.

“I get it, but, at the same time, there’s two teams on the field, so you have to give the calls both ways. And he didn’t do that today.”

Australia conceded twice during a disastrous first half – including an own goal from Cameron Burgess – with the United States securing a 2-0 victory to book their spot in the knockouts.

America’s second goal, courtesy of a header from Alex Freeman in the 43rd minute, was initially ruled off-side by the assistant referee before the decision was overturned following a VAR check; replays showed that Florian Balogun was in an off-side position, not Freeman.

However, Socceroos assistant Paul Okon questioned whether Balogun was involved in the play and impeded Socceroos goalkeeper Patrick Beach.

“From what we understood, he probably impeded Beachy,” Okon said at halftime.

“But, of course, the VAR decided differently.”

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Zwayer denied several close calls, including multiple penalty shouts, throughout the match, much to the frustration of Australian fans.

During the second half, America’s Antonee Robinson was potentially lucky to avoid a second yellow card following a ball tussle with Australia’s Cristian Volpato, who went down clutching his face after copping an arm to his face.

Elsewhere, the Socceroos were pleading for a penalty after Connor Metcalfe got clipped inside the box during an attacking play, but their cries were ignored. The final foul count was 16-12 in USA’s favour.

“The ref was guessing a lot of the time, which frustrated everyone,” football reporter Adam Peacock told SEN’s The Global Game.

“He wasn’t quite sure of himself.

“I just felt that he was guessing a lot of the time, which frustrated the players.

“They were getting really annoyed, frustrated.

“They were getting some calls, not all. On another day, we get a couple of penalties, but this is not another day, it’s a one-off day at a World Cup game.”

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Australian fans in attendance at Seattle Stadium were overheard calling the referee a “wanker” during their chants.

“A few decisions were a bit soft,” former Matildas goalkeeper Lydia Williams said on SBS.

“But it wasn’t the decisions of the referee that ultimately cost the game at the end of the day.”

With a couple of minutes remaining in the match, Zwayer suffered cramp in comical scenes and needed assistance from the players, getting his hamstring stretched while lying on the deck.

“I’ve never seen a referee go down with cramp,” Peacock added.

“There was a massive chance that he was going to go off on a stretcher.”

Australian coach Tony Popovic got into a heated exchange with referee.Source: SBS

Following the final whistle, an animated Popovic was seen giving the match officials a piece of his mind, seemingly unhappy with some of their decisions.

“Tony Popovic, I can tell you, has just gone across to the match officials and is absolutely seething at some of the decisions,” SEN commentator Simon Hill said.

“He has got to be careful, Tony Popovic, that he doesn’t get a FIFA sanction, because he was very demonstrous there.”

Asked about the United States’ second goal post-play, Popovic responded: “I’m not sure on that one.

“Unfortunately that didn’t go our way.”

Popovic continued critiquing the refereeing during the post-match press conference.

“I thought the referee gave too many fouls away, in all honesty,” he told reporters.

“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 get one. So that’s for the referees to assess their referee.”

Australia’s final group-stage match, against Paraguay in Santa Clara, gets underway on Friday at 12pm AEST.