USMNT Takes Tough Losses to Belgium, Portugal as World Cup Wake-Up Call

Back-to-back drubbings in Atlanta have given the United States men's national team an unambiguous look at how much work remains before the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off on home soil.

Playing both matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the USMNT absorbed a 5-2 shellacking from Belgium on March 28 and then fell 2-0 to Portugal on Tuesday, capping a March international window that raised urgent questions about Mauricio Pochettino's squad just 10 weeks before the tournament begins.

The Belgium defeat was the more alarming of the two. The Americans played well through the first 45 minutes, creating several good looks, but Belgium's Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku dismantled them in the second half. A Malik Tillman defensive error in the 53rd minute, choosing to stay on his feet rather than slide to block an Amadou Onana shot, turned a 2-1 match into a rout. Patrick Agyemang pulled one back late, but Belgium had already put the game out of reach with goals from a penalty and a long-range effort to seal the 5-2 final.

Pochettino acknowledged the pain of the result while urging perspective. "5-2 is always difficult to accept. It's painful," he said. "But at the same time, I think we need to take so many positive things. The first half was really good. I think we really play better than Belgium." He called the defeat a necessary lesson rather than a cause for panic, adding that he wanted the team to feel the sting of a bad result as motivation for what lies ahead.

Against Portugal on Tuesday, the pattern repeated itself. The U.S. started with urgency but again produced little from its attacking work. Francisco Trincao, set up by a Bruno Fernandes backheel, opened the scoring in the 37th minute, and Joao Felix doubled the lead in the 59th after the Americans lost focus on a corner kick. Portugal finished with 62 percent possession and five shots on target; the U.S. managed just three.

Christian Pulisic's scoreless stretch remained the most nagging subplot across both matches. Now 12 league games without a goal for AC Milan and goalless for the national team since November 2024, the American captain played as an improvised striker against Portugal before being substituted at halftime, also picking up a yellow card. Pochettino maintained his confidence in the forward. "He feels frustrated, and that is what we want, what we expect," the coach said. "He was fighting, he was committed. He's going to score because he has the quality."

Tuesday's game was the final match before Pochettino names his World Cup roster on May 26. The USMNT will face Senegal on May 31 and Germany on June 6 as final tune-ups, before opening the tournament against Paraguay on June 12. The 2026 World Cup runs through July 19 across 16 North American host cities, including Atlanta, where both sobering results unfolded.

With Belgium and Portugal providing the stiffest pre-tournament tests available, the USMNT exits March having absorbed hard lessons about defensive concentration, clinical finishing, and second-half composure. Whether Pochettino can convert those lessons into a coherent roster and a winning system before June 12 is now the defining question of his tenure.