Brazil U-17 team protest referee decisions in loss to U.S. by refusing to play

The U.S. U-17 team beat Brazil 4-1 to win the Nike International Friendlies tournament in Florida, but the match came to an undignified and premature end. Though it was only an informal competition organized by a shared sponsor, the match proved feisty with a few scuffles and two red cards for Brazil, which led to the two teams standing still at the end and prompting the ref to blow the final whistle before the 90th minute.

Brazil could have won the competition with a win or a draw. The U.S. opened the scoring in just the seventh minute, but Brazil equalized in the 16th. From there, it was all bad news for Brazil. After going down 2-1, they were shown their first red card in the 38th minute. They continued to fight for a comeback, but the second red came in the 86th minute, after Brazil had already gone down 4-1, and that proved too much for them to take.

Down to nine men, the Brazilians just stood still, refusing to move as the U.S. casually passed the ball around in their own half. They did this for a couple of minutes before finally just standing on the ball, turning the match into a bizarre staring contest. It was clear that neither side would move, so the referee decided to end the match 30 seconds shy of the 90th minute. The U.S. then celebrated their victory and Brazil trudged off without any further incident.

The LA Galaxy's Haji Wright scored two of the U.S.'s four goals and won the Golden Boot for the tournament with five goals in three matches.

Here are the full match highlights...