ATLANTA — The United States was better Tuesday than it had been two days prior, good enough even to ensure questions of urgency or desperation didn’t crop up afterward.

Rather than anything like that, this 2-0 loss to Portugal indicated something just as alarming, albeit far more obvious. Talented as their roster has become, the Americans still have nothing like the quality of Portugal.

“We are USA, and we are competing against Belgium and Portugal,” coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “I think Belgium and Portugal have in the top 100 players [in the world], some players playing in that top 100. I think we don’t have [that]. That is why it’s good to play against this team.”

It was an unwittingly — and perhaps unintentionally for a non-native English speaker — harsh assessment of his own team’s talent, but it came as Pochettino spent much of his postgame remarks trying to explain why he felt positive about the pair of losses this window.

True enough that it’s surely better for the USMNT — which, as an automatic qualifier to this World Cup, hasn’t played a truly competitive game since the 2024 Copa América, before Pochettino was hired — to face true tests of its quality now, whatever the results.

Still, after how well things had gone for the U.S. in its fall camps, two losses here in Atlanta with every (non-injured) star on the field for the Americans are a tough pill to swallow.

On top of the results, not a lot of questions the U.S. had coming into this camp feel settled.

There’s still no clear No. 9, with Mauricio Pochettino playing Christian Pulisic at striker in the first half on Tuesday, and by the way, Pulisic is still looking to break a goal-scoring drought that’s gone 18 months for the U.S. and four months at the club level.

After two games in which Pochettino tried Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Malik Tillman together in attack, it’s hard to argue that what’s clearly the most talented grouping for the U.S. is the Americans’ best.

Players like Gio Reyna and Johnny Cardoso, who came into this camp with tons to prove, left it without a clear resolution. Reyna didn’t get on the field until late in the second half of both games and did little. Cardoso played a fine 45 minutes Saturday, then flew home to Madrid with an injury.

“It’s hard to say that we’re where we want to be with results like this,” McKennie said. “I think we take a lot of positives away from the games that we’ve played. … We just need to figure out how to be able to stay in the game if we don’t finish chances like we had early on.”

Matt Freese did remind everyone that he’s the obvious first-choice keeper on Tuesday with a good shot-stopping performance, making three save, and the U.S. did generate some good moments both on the counterattack and when they could press high enough to bother Portuguese keeper José Sá.

The Americans can take some solace, too, from the fact that Portugal’s two goals both took great individual moments: first a backheel pass from Bruno Fernandes that set up Francisco Trincão, then a brilliant half-volley from João Félix that rattled off the post and in from Fernandes’ corner kick.

Félix’s goal, in the 59th minute, erased whatever chance there was for the U.S. to get a result from this weekend, and the lack of finishing from the Americans put an exclamation point on an offensively challenged weekend.

The U.S. set up in a 4-2-3-1 again, but with six changes from Saturday and Pulisic up top as a lone striker.

That got Pulisic some good opportunities, and the U.S. looked dangerous in spurts, particularly off the counter, whenever it pressed high enough to bother Sá, and a few times where it had a runner in behind. Had Pulisic’s finishing been there, perhaps the story of Tuesday would be different.

Soon after he shot wide late in the first half, though — off one of the better chances the U.S. created all game — the Americans let their concentration lapse in the run-up to Trincão’s goal.

Pochettino was asked afterward whether players might lose belief they can beat a side like Portugal and reacted with incredulity.

“Whose players?” he asked.

“Always the hope is the first time is going to be in the World Cup,” he said.

It may need to be if the U.S. is going to avoid an underwhelming result on home soil.