As Australian fans counted down the minutes to the Socceroos’ disastrous World Cup clash against the USA, there were comical scenes when the referee went down at the 90-minute mark.

Trailing 2-0 and with little hope of any sort of miracle comeback, Australians across the globe really just wanted the match to end to get away from an insufferable — and very noisy — home crowd at Seattle Stadium.

But their misery was prolonged when referee Felix Zwayer suddenly hit the deck, with commentators not believing what they were suddenly witnessing.

“Oh here we go. I’ve seen it all now. The referee’s cramping,” a shocked Luke Wilkshire said.

And veteran broadcaster David Basheer added: “That’s the first time I’ve seen a player help a referee in that way.“

Basheer was referring to Socceroos star Aiden O’Neill who sprung into action to quickly help Zwayer stretch out his cramp.

“Felix Zwayer, you need to get to 96 minutes, and you’re very close,” Basheer continued, while Wilkshire chuckled: “We might be seeing another substitution.”

“You’ve gotta look at the funny side of this, don’t ya?” Wilkshire said.

Basheer wondered if Zwayer had not kept up his fluids throughout the game.

He said a midfielder can cover around 12.5km in a match and the referees have to “get through some work as well”.

“Maybe he’s misjudged the fluid intake, perhaps. What do you reckon?” Basheer asked.

But as the cameras stayed on Zwayer and pickle juice was rushed out on the pitch to help him quickly recover, Wilkshire finally said what every Australian was thinking.

“We want the football to go on, come on! I don’t wanna watch a referee stretching out,” he blurted out.

Eventually Zwayer got to his feet and continued, after Australia’s pain had been delayed for a few agonising minutes.

While that was a frustration for fans, Socceroos star Nestory Irankunda said the players were also frustrated with Zwayer, saying he “had a stinker”.

The Socceroos made it clear the refereeing was not the difference in Friday’s defeat to the co-hosts in Seattle, but clearly felt the Americans had the rub of the green from the official.

Irankunda was knocked down on multiple occasions without a foul being paid as was Cristian Volpato, while Connor Metcalfe had a second-half penalty shout waved away.

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

“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.”

For the Americans’ second goal, Sergino Dest’s shot took a deflection and Freeman rose highest to head home.

It was initially called offside but after a VAR review, it was ruled Freeman was onside when Dest shot.

Strangely, teammate Folarin Balogun was not considered to have interfered with goalkeeper Patrick Beach from an offside position.

“I’m not sure on that one. We felt that, but, unfortunately that didn’t go our way,” Popovic said.

“Today was, I wouldn’t say the best day for the referee. Certainly we felt we were Australia today with the referees.” Popovic later indicated he was unhappy with a lack of consistency.

“I thought the referee gave too many fouls away, in all honesty,” the Socceroos boss said.

“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. But that’s for the referees to assess their referee.

Veteran Milos Degenek, an unused substitute, was a frustrated onlooker.

“I was very impressed by the way how the boys held their calm and held their nerve,” Degenek said.

“I mean, I would have lost my head 10 times.

“I was losing my head on the bench, but obviously, you can’t influence what the decisions are and that’s the way the world is now.

“Unfortunately, they don’t let you have at least a dialogue, which would be helpful in an explanation, but it is what it is.”

- With AAP