Goals from Francisco Trincao and Joao Felix sealed the win after a starring performance by Bruno Fernandes
Portugal inflicted a second consecutive defeat to USA in the March friendlies before the World Cup, beating the World Cup hosts 2-0 to Portugal in Atlanta.
The result extends USA’s poor run against European opposition to eight straight losses. It follows the 5-2 defeat to Belgium on Friday.
Portugal dominated the game despite being without Cristiano Ronaldo and Bernardo Silva, with captain Bruno Fernandes providing two assists. A delicate backheel to Francisco Trincao allowed the Sporting forward to open the scoring in the first half, before Joao Felix added a second with a volley from the edge of the penalty area after Fernandes’ set-piece.
USA head coach Mauricio Pochettino made six changes from the side that lost to Belgium, including deploying Christian Pulisic in a central attacking role, but the adjustment had little impact, with Pulisic substituted at half-time and extending his run without an international goal to eight matches. He has also not scored for AC Milan since December.
The North American side have two more warm-up fixtures before the World Cup, facing African champions Senegal on 31 May before meeting another European heavyweight Germany on 6 June.
They begin their Group D campaign on 12 June against Paraguay, before further games against Australia and Turkey.
