Judge country left in denial (7)
I believe the answer is:
refusal
'denial' is the definition.
(refusal is a kind of denial)
'judge country left' is the wordplay.
'judge' becomes 'ref' (referee).
'country' becomes 'usa' (U.S.A. is an example).
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'ref'+'usa'+'l'='REFUSAL'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for refusal that I've seen before include "Declining of an offer" , "fault in the show ring" , "Instance of a horse not jumping" , "Horse's action in declining to jump a fence" , "Seal fur (anag.)" .)