'A massive lesson for us' - USMNT get details wrong while Christian Pulisic admits frustration: Winners and losers from the loss to Portugal

Was there a better player on the pitch Tuesday night? In effect, Fernandes has everything that this U.S. team lacks: a talismanic aura, mercurial talent - he's also a bit annoying. The Portuguese captain is the kind of maverick player that international teams simply love to have. And when Ronaldo isn't kicking a ball around for the Selecao, Fernandes' strengths are only heightened. 

"Belgium and Portugal have, in the top 100 players, several players playing that would be in that top 100," Pochettino said. "We don't have that, which is why it was good to play against this type of team."

Fernandes was everywhere without necessarily having to kick the ball all the time against the U.S. Sure, he will be on the stat sheet for his two assists - a lovely backheel to set up Portugal's opener, and an artful cross for the second. But it was the bits in between that were more impactful: the sharp passes, the quick cuts, the willingness to make space for others. By the end of it all, he was running rings around everyone else - without even trying. 

An early caveat: Pulisic wasn't bad by any stretch. Playing in a new role for the national team at striker, he was active, involved, and dangerous. The USMNT's biggest moments of the first half largely came through him. They weren't big enough, though, and he was clearly frustrated by that.

His yellow card was the manifestation of that, and it's clearly been building. Pochettino, to be fair, didn't mind that show of frustration. It meant something.

"When you start to show that you feel," Pochettino said, "That you care and you're frustrated, it's because you want to win, you want to fight, you want to go and want to score and want to take the ball and help the team. That, for me, is the difference."

After missing several chances against Belgium, Pulisic went close on a few more in this one, but he just hasn't been able to make any of them count. That's been the story of his year so far, and as a result, he remains scoreless for club and country since the calendar turned to 2026.

More importantly, from a USMNT perspective, he hasn't celebrated a goal stateside since 2024. It's an extended drought for a player of his standards, and it's one that's clearly bothering him with the World Cup so close to kicking off.

"It's frustrating," Pulisic acknowledged, "But I'm just going to stay positive...In the first half, we caused the teams a lot of problems and put a lot of pressure on them. We had a lot of great things. Neither game was really out of our control. It was just little moments or just being a little bit more clinical. Same story, but we feel really close."

The day before the game, Felix spent a good chunk of his media duties talking about how much he wanted to play at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

And then he spent 45 minutes making it his own. 

Felix is a fun player to watch in that he always does pretty things with the ball. The problem is those nice bits aren't always the most effective. In a way, he is basically football's great wasted talent, the No.10 who never figured out that there's more to the modern game. Yet in international soccer, he finds his spots. 

Portugal, in particular, with such a rigid system, value the sort of individual inspiration that only Felix can provide. In truth, this wasn't his best game. But it was an immensely impactful one.  He connected play in the final third. He created two chances. He capped it off by scoring a truly wonderful goal to double his side's lead.

Off the ball, he was handy, too. Felix was not a pressing machine, but he covered plenty of ground and ensured that the U.S.'s midfielders had little space to operate in. His spot at the World Cup still feels a little up for grabs. It is a bit unfair on Felix that the Selecao have so many good diminutive attacking players of his ilk. Many of them are more versatile. Still, if this is a spark plug, then there are few better ones out there. 

Prior to the March friendlies, Pochettino said he wanted to get a look at Reyna because he wasn't playing for his club. And that does make some sense. If Poch can't see him week in, week out, then surely a look up close might give the Argentine a clear idea as to what one of his most obvious talents can still offer. Based on these two friendlies, Pochettino hasn't been all that impressed. Neither game, in fairness, was the kind of fixture where you bring on a No. 10 who shows little apparent interest in doing much defending.

Still, there is something to be said for changing things up in the final third. And when the U.S. perhaps needed a little bit of invention, Reyna was either left on the bench or called upon too late. The attacking midfielder was handed 11 minutes Tuesday night, at a juncture where the game felt pretty much done. Portugal were stroking it around. The U.S. were showing intent but not much quality. Reyna had 12 touches, completed 10 passes, and didn't have loads else to do. Could he have changed this game outright? Probably not. But he will surely feel that he deserved a bit more of a try. 

So that’s probably the No. 1 situation done and dusted then? 

Two balls got by Freese, neither one was his fault and he prevented a few more from going in, too - with three saves. Freese wasn’t perfect, but he was pretty damn good and, given the current situation, that’ll be just fine. 

There was no game-changing save in this, but there were ones that kept the USMNT in the game. If he does that this summer, that’s fine. It looks like he’ll get that chance after a good performance.

"I'm not too concerned with that," Freese said of the starting gig. "I'm not too focused on that. I'm focused on being there for the team and helping the team in any capacity that's required and in any capacity that Mauricio calls on me for. I'm very focused on doing that."

The game was dying for a striker entering the second half. The Pulisic situation up top wasn’t quite working, and the U.S. really needed a No. 9. Pochettino picked two: Patrick Agyemang and Folarin Balogun.

 He didn’t pick Ricardo Pepi, who will surely be left wondering what he has to do to get that look. He did well against Belgium, pressing to set up the USMNT’s closing goal. He wasn’t rewarded for it as Pochettino looked in a different direction. 

What does that mean for his World Cup situation? Probably something, as Pepi never got a proper look this camp.