What an idiot! Sergino Dest is suffering the wrath of the nation for his mindless behaviour

United States coach Gregg Berhalter slammed the "inexcusable" sending off of defender Sergino Dest on Monday after his team stumbled to a 2-1 defeat against Trinidad & Tobago in the CONCACAF Nations League.

Despite the loss, the US advanced to the semi-finals of the Nations League -- and sealed their place in next year's Copa America -- with a 4-2 aggregate quarter-final victory. But what should have been a routine second leg in Port of Spain was made harder than it needed to be after Dest's dismissal towards the end of the first half.

The US at the time were leading 1-0 after Antonee Robinson's 25th-minute header and appeared to be cruising into the last four. But the match was turned on its head in the 39th minute after a moment of madness from Dest. The incident saw the former Ajax youngster reacting strongly to a referee's decision during the game, as he vehemently disagreed with the call for a throw-in awarded to Trinidad & Tobago. He was convinced he had kept the ball in play, but the referee, Walter Lopez, saw it differently.

In his frustration, Dest immediately reacted by picking up the ball and kicking it off the pitch, which led to him receiving his first yellow card of the match. His teammates Gio Reyna and Yunus Musah, attempted to calm him down. Reyna, in particular, tried to cover Dest's mouth, likely to prevent any potential swearing from being captured by cameras, as Dest remained visibly angry.

Despite Reyna's efforts, Dest's anger seemed difficult to contain, and ultimately, referee Lopez decided to show the out-of-control player a second yellow card, resulting in his expulsion. After receiving the red card, Dest continued to express his frustration, even blowing a kiss in the direction of the referee as he continued to voice his discontent.

Trinidad subsequently equalised through Reon Moore on 43 minutes and then scored a winner through Alvin Jones' free-kick on 57 minutes. Although Trinidad never looked like scoring the five goals they required to win on aggregate, Berhalter could not hide his fury at Dest's self-inflicted red card after the game.

"He put a number of guys in jeopardy, made a number of guys do a lot of extra work in this weather, and it's inexcusable. We pride ourselves in staying mentally disciplined, battling through any type of conditions, whether they're good decisions or bad decisions. We're supposed to keep going and respond in an appropriate way, and that obviously wasn't the right response from Sergino."

Dest, who had been lambasted by teammates Tim Ream and Matt Turner as he trudged off following the sending-off. Ream said after the game that everyone was furious at Dest during the half-time break.

"Not too many things I can say here publicly that we said privately. It's a complete lack of respect for the guys that are playing, for the guys that are on the bench. It's a lack of respect for the game itself, for the referees."

The Barcelona right-back, who's currently on loan with PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands, issued an apology on Instagram after the game.

"I want to apologise to my teammates, staff and fans and whole nation for my behavior; 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 goalscorer Robinson described Dest's dismissal as a "moment of unprofessionalism."

"Disappointed we didn't get the win. We started the game pretty well and had things under control and then a moment of unprofessionalism kind of went against us. But we'll take it. We're in the semi-finals of the Nations League and we're in the Copa America, so it's still been a successful break."

It wasn't for Dest - who showed a staggering lack of common sense and self-control.