USMNT Edges Senegal in Friendly Tuneup

By Daniel Feuerstein | Charlotte, NC | May 31st, 2026

The U.S. Men’s National Team started their two-match friendly tuneup before the World Cup begins and their first Group D match-up against Paraguay at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, California. They would face a very difficult Senegal side from Africa at the Bank of America Stadium in downtown Charlotte. When the opening whistle blew, the USA looked fabulous at the start, but did show some worry towards the middle of the match until they finally got the lead back and kept it. They earned a strong victory over one of Africa’s best and ended the afternoon with a three goals to two victory.

Inside the first ten minutes, the USA worked along the near side and set up the first goal of the match. Antonee Robinson, finding Ricardo Pepi, who was covered by two Senegalese defenders, somehow started the play with a funky turnaround pass by whipping his right leg to lay the ball off into the path of Christian Pulisic, and he made a run towards the Senegal area. As he got close enough and deep enough, Pulisic crossed the ball to a wide-open Sergino Dest, who ran into the ball and bunted it past the keeper in the 7th minute for the first goal of the match.

The second goal came in on another fabulous run that started along the far side of the pitch. Alex Freeman in midfield found Pepi and put it right into his path. Pepi once again made something happen while attacking down the flank. Pepi saw Pulisic in front of him and made a nice pass to put him in a great position to score. He was able to run past the defender, and when Pulisic got close to the keeper, he deked him, and then he took a diagonal shot that tucks inside the back post for the two-goal lead in the 20th minute.

The backline had a shaky moment in the 44th minute when Senegal’s top goal scorer and captain, Sadio Mane, took advantage of poor marking and was allowed to use the space to score his first of two goals in the match. Antonee Robinson misplayed the ball and his marker, which allowed Senegal to attack down the near side along the near side touchline. When the pass came toward the middle of the area, Mane took advantage of the space and cut between two defenders, and took the shot one time to beat Matt Turner to the far post.

Before the second half began, both sides were making wholesale changes, and coming in for his first cap was Chicago Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady, and right away, his first moment of disaster was his initiation with help from the FC Cincinnati Centerback Miles Robinson. Miles was coming back with an attacker behind him and tried to chip the ball away toward the farside touchline, but missed. That allowed Senegal to grab the ball and make an attacking run. Brady came off his line and put himself into no-man’s land. The attacker beat Brady, rolling his shot into an open net. Miles Robinson was able to catch up to the ball and made the clearing attempt, but Mane was on his horse and made sure the ball struck him in the legs and in the net at the 52nd minute.

But the USA was able to take the lead after two other moments where an offside wiped out the go-ahead goal, then a foul called inside the area for interference toward the defender. Both of those moments involved Folarin Balogun, but as they say, the third time is the charm. Tim Weah, along the near side, moves the ball up, then plays a give-and-go with Weston McKennie. A quick cross to the middle was deflected slightly by the defender, but Balogun still received the ball, settled it, and shot it inside the far post to take the lead in the 63rd minute.

Overall, there are positives for this win, but the negatives are also glaring for this U.S. Men’s National Team. Without a doubt, the win will give them confidence, and for Pulisic, scoring that goal will hopefully allow him to go on a run when they face Paraguay on Friday, June 12th, at SoFi Stadium. But now they must move on to Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, and face Germany on Saturday, June 6th at 2:30 PM Eastern for the Send off match, and then head for the West Coast and start their journey in the FIFA World Cup.

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