The Colombian Football Federation (FCF) has asked the organizers of the Copa America to suspend the referees in their 2-1 loss to Brazil, saying they influenced the result by not stopping play when the ball hit them to score .
Argentina's Nestor Pitana, who refereeed the 2018 World Cup final, saw the ball bounce outside Colombia's box and Brazil continued to play Roberto Firmino to level the draw.
The sprinkling of salt on the wound, a prolonged protest by Colombians led to an additional 10 minutes of stoppage time, with the home team setting the winner's net in the 100th minute.
Colombia took the lead after 10 minutes through Luis Diaz.
The Colombian federation complained, "Even the VAR [video assistant referee] indicated to the referee that the Brazilian player who rebounded to the referee had a pass going to the Colombian player." It urged the South American football confederation CONMEBOL to suspend match officials.
CONMEBOL took the unusual step of making the conversation between Pitana and VAR executives public on Thursday.
The organization stated that the incident "did not lead to a promising attack" and therefore the game should not have been stopped.
Even though they lost, Colombia still qualified for the last eight of the tournament along with Brazil.
The Copa América consists of 10 South American teams and ends with the final in Rio de Janeiro on 10 July.