Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta) — Two games against elite competition. Two losses that left fans of the United States men’s national team short of any confidence that the country’s squad has any hope of making a deep run when they co-host the World Cup in just over two months from now.
Three days after a 5-2 drubbing by Belgium in the same building, the Americans suffered a 2-0 defeat to sixth-ranked Portugal in front of 72,297 fans at the home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.
Francisco Trincão scored in the first half and João Félix in the second as the U.S. ended this month with consecutive defeats.
Here are my takeaways:
(Photo by Johnnie Izquierdo/USSF/Getty Images)
The Argentine coach made six changes from the starting lineup that lost to Belgium. Poch reinstalled Freese, brought in central defenders Chris Richards and Auston Trusty, midfielders Sebastian Berhalter and Aidan Morris and defender Alex Freeman. With just two days between games, that was probably the plan all along. The biggest eyebrow-raiser was the decision not to start any of the dedicated strikers — Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi or Patrick Agyemang — and deploy Christian Pulisic as a frontrunner.
The idea, as Pochettino had hinted at on Monday, was to get his struggling star, who was mired in a seven-match scoreless streak for the national team, closer to the target.
And for the most part, it worked. Pulisic got his chances. But once again, he failed to convert any of them. And once again, an elite European opponent went up the field after one miss and converted a goal of their own. A frustrated Pulisic picked up a yellow card late in the half. And when the Americans came out for the final 45 minutes, the AC Milan standout was on the bench, with Agyemang at the tip of the spear instead.
(Photo by Omar Vega/USSF/Getty Images)
