A million vuvuzelas couldn’t drown the moans of sorrow and shouts of rage.
Out of nowhere, a bumbling referee robbed the United States of a come-from-behind victory over Slovenia in the World Cup, leaving fans screaming for his head.
The now-infamous referee, Koman Coulibaly, inexplicably denied US midfielder Maurice “Mo” Edu what should have been the Americans’ third — and tie-breaking — goal in the 84th minute, causing the match to end in a 2-2 draw.
The bungled call left the United States with two ties and two points, making it much more difficult for the team to advance to the next round.
“I want to murder him! He needs to go back to JV league. That was an amateur, greenhorn call!” shouted paralegal Jim Smith, 24, in the packed-to-the-rafters bar Nevada Smiths in the East Village.
Jenni Morton, a law student from Astoria, Queens, couldn’t contain her grief at the equally crowded Village Pourhouse.
“I’m so brokenhearted right now,” she moaned. “When they tied and came back from two-to-nothing, I started giving high fives to everyone.
“Then the ref [made the call], I was like, ‘What the . . .’ This ref is never going to be in another game again.”
To the bafflement of millions of viewers, Coulibaly blew his whistle for a foul just moments after US forward Landon Donovan sent a free kick in teammate Edu’s direction.
Rough play is common in free kicks, and nearly all observers said Coulibaly’s foul call was unwarranted.
But Edu’s goal was invalidated nonetheless.
Even the experts couldn’t explain it.
“It was ridiculous call and a mistake,” said Shep Messings, a former pro soccer player and current MSG Network commentator. “In this particular kind of play [a free kick], I have never seen this kind of foul called.”
At least a handful of people in the States were happy with Coulibaly’s call.
“This is a big deal for a country like Slovenia,” said the country’s consul general Dr. Melita Gabric, who watched the game with colleagues in Midtown. “My job is to promote my country, and nothing is as effective as playing against the US.”
Upset fans compared Coulibaly to Major League Baseball umpire Jim Joyce, who denied Detroit Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game when he mistakenly called a Cleveland Indian safe.
“Horrendous! Horrendous! This is as bad as when the ump called the guy safe two weeks ago. It will go down in history as bad as that,” said Jah-Jah Fernando, 33, a Bloomberg analyst who took the day off to watch the match at Nevada Smiths.
The United States is still in the running, but it now must beat Algeria on June 23 to advance to the next round.
Additional reporting by Rita Delfiner, Clemente Lisi and Ada Calhoun