The crisis that the United States is going through had another serious episode this Tuesday in Atlanta when they fell 0-2 to Portugal, conceding seven goals to one in the summary of the last FIFA date before the World Cup, which seems to threaten the future of the coach of the Americans, the Argentine Mauricio Pochettino.

A defeat where the Americans were clearly outplayed by the Portuguese, who, with goals from Francisco Trincao and Joao Felix, capitalized on two defensive errors by Mauricio Pochettino's men to secure this victory.

The setback against the Portuguese further inflamed the already tense atmosphere surrounding the Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino, especially due to the strong criticism from iconic players in the history of the United States national team, such as Landon Donovan and Alexi Lalas, as well as coach Bruce Arenas, who have questioned the Argentine's ability and pointed to his inexperience in managing a national team, as well as the lack of commitment from some players.

The serious aspect of the result is not the score itself, but the way the Portuguese scored the goals, with such clear errors as failing to mark the receiver of the ball on a corner kick, Joao Felix, allowing him to score. The goal came from a shot almost outside the box.

No one can deny that the United States, who in 71 days will host the World Cup, put up a strong fight against the Portuguese, but that wasn't enough to neutralize a team like the Portuguese, who seem to have a well-rehearsed game plan, regardless of who plays.

The key lay in the management errors of Mauricio Pochettino's team, who at the end of the game acknowledged that all their effort and desire went to waste due to mistakes that weighed heavily on their performance.

The first mistake was a play where the ball fell to Bruno Fernandes, who entered the box and backheeled it to Trincao,who sent a cross-shot towards Matthew Freese's goal in a play that left the United States with no options if they didn't recover from that blow. In fact, the United States, in the final tally, had eight shots to Portugal's three, but two of them were goals that put the game on the path to victory for Roberto Martinez's team. The second mistake came from a corner kick in the 59th minute, when Fernandes launched the ball to the recently substituted Joao Felix, unmarked at the edge of the penalty area, allowing the Portuguese striker to control it with all the time in the world before shooting and placing the ball into the right side of the American goalkeeper's net. This defeat for the Stars and Stripes extends their winless streak against a European team to ten matches since their victory over Bosnia in 2021, and now in the match held at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where they had the experience who will participate in the World Cup in eight matches, seven in the group stage and one in the semifinals.

Before the World Cup, the Americans will face Senegal and Germany before debuting on June 12 against Paraguay, and then Australia and Turkey, who earned the right to participate in the World Cup this Tuesday.