USA 3-2 Senegal: USMNT make dream start to home World Cup preparation with thrilling win over Senegal

Balogun was in fine form for USA against Senegal off the bench

Christian Pulisic was involved in the United States of America’s first two goals on the way to a 3-2 friendly win over Senegal in Charlotte, matching his number of goal involvements for AC Milan in the whole of 2026 in the process.

After years of anticipation about co-hosting the FIFA World Cup (WC), the USMNT are less than two weeks away from their opener against Paraguay with Mauricio Pochettino’s 26-man squad having been announced.

There were encouraging signs in the early stages of this friendly, as they moved the ball well and opened the scoring just seven minutes into proceedings when Christian Pulisic linked up with Ricardo Pepi and teed up SergiF1o Dest for a simple finish.

Senegal created a golden opportunity on the quarter-hour mark as they looked to respond, although Nicolas Jackson was wasteful and proved unable to guide Iliman Ndiaye’s cutback on target. In contrast, the Stars and Stripes were clinical once again in the 20th minute, as Pulisic received a Pepi pass again and this time effortlessly rounded Mory Diaw to slide the ball home for a goal of his own.

The Lions of T9ranga finally got themselves on the scoresheet shortly before half-time through Sadio Mane, who applied a cool finish to Habib Diarra’s pass following a swashbuckling run from the midfielder.

Pochettino made nine changes ahead of the restart while Pape Thiaw made three, and the incoming defenders struggled to get up to speed. Malik Tillman dispossessed Moustapha Mbow and found Folarin Balogun, who finished but was pulled up for straying offside. There was no such reprieve for Miles Robinson after a mistake, as he was unable to stop Man9 from bundling the ball over the line to equalise following good work from Jackson. Tillman also thought he had scored but was denied by referee Nick Walsh following a foul from Balogun, who was then the beneficiary of a kind Mbow touch on Timothy Weah’s cross as he finished to restore the hosts’ lead.

He was denied a second by Diaw after the ball fell to him from Weston McKennie hitting the post. Weah then made a determined block to stop Bamba Dieng’s strike, ensuring the USMNT responded to back-to-back defeats with a win to offer excitement ahead of the WC, with a friendly against Germany to come before their competition opener. Senegal round off their preparations against Saudi Arabia and are unlikely to panic before facing France in their tournament opener, as the only other official loss from their last 11 matches was the Africa Cup of Nations final that was awarded to Morocco.

Check out the match stats here.