Bruno Fernandes tore apart the United States defense to give Portugal a 2-0 win over the FIFA World Cup co-hosts on Tuesday, who once again failed to deliver against a top-flight opponent ahead of this summer’s tournament.
Manchester United playmaker Fernandes had two assists and set up Francisco Trincao with a cool backheel, before finding a completely unmarked Joao Felix from a corner to double the lead.
For the US, which faces rising expectations as it prepares to co-host the World Cup with Mexico and Canada, it was a second disappointing friendly defeat in three days at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, following a 5-2 loss to Belgium this weekend.
In his final match before picking his tournament squad, coach Mauricio Pochettino’s experiment of playing Christian Pulisic as a striker failed as the American talisman missed several chances before being substituted at half-time.
It was the eighth consecutive defeat for the US against European sides.
The US started brightly. Given permission to charge forward in the absence of striker Folarin Balogun, Pulisic fired from a narrow angle in the sixth minute but his tame effort was blocked.
Timothy Weah sent a dangerous cross for Pulisic halfway through half-time. But Pulisic, who has yet to score for AC Milan in 2026 and hasn’t found the net for the US since 2024, failed completely to connect with the ball.
Pulisic’s better effort from 25 yards flashed just wide of the post, before Fernandes – played through by a sharp pass from Vitinha – cleverly pushed the ball to Trincao, who fired home.
In the dying moments of the first half, Pulisic found himself in a one-on-one race with Henrique Araujo but was unable to get past the defender and earned a booking for lunging before being substituted.
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For the second half, Pochettino returned to a more traditional formation with the arrival of striker Patrick Agyemang, who had scored against Belgium.
The Portuguese made seven substitutions. It didn’t seem to disrupt the team’s rhythm and the European’s lead soon doubled.
Fernandes pinged a corner to Felix, who somehow had time to control the ball, bounced it and looped it for a volley, which he buried in the bottom left corner.
Despite successive friendly defeats, Pochettino said the only way to improve before the intense pressure of a home World Cup was to test his lesser-vaunted side against daunting opposition.
Scotland is experiencing more friendly problems
Scotland slumped to a second 1-0 friendly defeat in four days as Nicolas Pepe’s early goal sealed victory for Ivory Coast at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Steve Clarke’s men were beaten by the same result at home to Japan on Saturday and a lack of goals will worry the Scotland boss ahead of a first World Cup in 28 years.
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The decisive moment came after just 12 minutes when Scotland were caught out by a quick Ivorian counter-attack that ended with Pepe reacting quickest to tap in after Elye Wahi’s strike came back off the post.
Scott McTominay poked the palms of Alban Lafont as Scotland pushed for a route back into the match but was again undone by the lack of lead in the final third.
Ipswich’s George Hirst came closest to an equalizer after half-time with a header near the post that Lafont found behind.
Ivory Coast defeated South Korea 4-0 at the weekend but were happy to defend their lead for most of the second period until a late flurry.
Manchester United’s Amad Diallo only made a cameo as a second-half substitute but forced Scott Bain into a superb save to his left before Simon Adingra’s effort from the edge of the box came back off the post.
Published on April 1, 2026
