By CNN
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The US Men’s National Team suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago in the second leg of its CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal, but survived the upset to reach the semifinals 4-2 on aggregate.
Fulham defender Antonee Robinson got the US men off to a flying start with a goal after 25 minutes, but the match was turned on its head when a moment of madness from Sergiño Dest resulted in the 23-year-old picking up two yellow cards in the space of 30 seconds.
Dest, who assisted Robinson’s opening goal, picked up his first booking for deliberately kicking the ball into the stands in frustration at a refereeing decision. After being shown a yellow card, Dest continued to berate the referee and then blew kisses at him, resulting in an almost immediate second booking and a red card.
After the match, Dest issued an apology on social media and called his actions “immature.”
“I want to apologize to my teammates, staff, fans and whole nation for my behaviour,” he wrote on Instagram. “It was unacceptable, selfish and immature – I let my team down! It’s something I have to learn from and it won’t happen again.”
US captain Tim Ream said he had “no explanation” for Dest’s reaction.
“There’s not too many things that I can say here, publicly, that we said privately,” Ream told reporters after the game. “Overall, it’s a complete lack of respect for the guys that are playing, for the guys that are on the bench, a feeling of a lack of respect for the game itself and for the referees.
“For me, it’s just a feeling of disrespect, to be completely honest with you, and that’s something he needs to understand because it completely changes the game, but then it completely changes any type of potential plan.”
Head coach Gregg Berhalter also did not hold back in his assessment of Dest’s attitude on the pitch.
“It is concerning because that’s not what we want to represent,” Berhalter told reporters, per Reuters. “As a team, players, the staff, we need to hold him accountable because it’s inexcusable.
“It really is and we were very firm with our words after the game. He put a number of guys in jeopardy and made a number of guys do a lot of extra work in this weather and it’s inexcusable.
“He’s a young player, he’s a fantastic part of this team. He’s going to learn, he’s going to grow. He made a dumb mistake and he knows that,” Berhalter added.
With a numerical advantage, Trinidad and Tobago came from behind to win the match 2-1 thanks to goals from Reon Moore and Alvin Jones, but it wasn’t enough to reach the semifinals as the US had won the first leg in Texas, 3-0.
This year’s CONCACAF Nations League also acts as the qualifiers for the expanded 2024 Copa América, which will take place in the United States. By reaching the last four, the US has secured its place in the competition, but Trinidad and Tobago will now play a single-elimination match to decide whether it will be one of the six CONCACAF teams participating.
