The US Men's National Team came into Senegal friendly with a lot of chatter around the roster choices made by Mauricio Pochettino, and while they may not have silenced it completely, they certainly quieted the criticism.

Only seven minutes into the game Christian Pulisic found Sergiño Dest for an early USA goal, before putting one away himself on the pin-point delivery from Ricardo Pepi only 13 minutes later.

Senegal scored a late goal via Sadio Mané to pull within one at halftime. Poch made wholesale changes at the half, even putting Chris Brady in to replace Matt Turner in goal. The second half squad looked rusty early, allowing another Mané goal.

Folarin Balogun looked in fine form, with two disallowed goals and a treasure trove of chances. He ended up with only one score, which was enough to give USMNT the win in their penultimate World Cup friendly.

Recap the game below as it happened.

USA vs Senegal Live Updates

FT - Full time stats

Possession 44-56 Senegal. Shots 7-13, on target 3-3. Senegal had 28 touches in the USA box to 21.

FT - Fulltime

USA 3-2 Senegal.

90+ - Stoppage time

Added time underway.

76' - USA Substitution

Alex Zendejas for Sebastian Berhalter.

71' - Senegal Substitutions

Triple change. Moussa Niakhaté for Mamadou Sarr. Ahmadou Bamba Dieng for Iliman Ndiaye. Pape Matar Sarr for Habib Diarra.

66' - USA Effort

Folarin Balogun forces a save from Mory Diaw, as US men have three back-to-back-to-back changes.

champagne footy

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— Ben Wright (@benwright.bsky.social) May 31, 2026 at 4:17 PM

66' - USA Yellow card 🟨

Malik Tillman into the book.

63' - USA Goal, 3-2

Balogun buries and finally gets his goal after two were disallowed. He looks in fine form.

THIS ONE COUNTS FOR FLO ✅ Folarin Balogun makes it 3-2 for the USMNT!

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— Soccerwise (@soccerwisehq.bsky.social) May 31, 2026 at 4:09 PM

60' - Another USA goal disallowed

Foul was called on Balogun.

60' - Senegal Substitution

Assane Diao for Sadio Mané. Cherif Ndiaye for Nicolas Jackson.

52' - Senegal Goal

Sadio Mané's second. 2-2.

51' - USA Shot on target

Folarin Balogun forces a save from Mory Diaw.

49' - USA goal disallowed

Folarin Balogun thought he had put a golazo in the top right corner of the net. Linesman calls offside.

46' - USA Substitutions

Folarin Balogun for Ricardo Pepi. Malik Tillman for Christian Pulišić. Miles Robinson for Mark McKenzie. Auston Trusty for Tim Ream. Weston McKennie for Tyler Adams. Cristian Roldán for Giovanni Reyna. Chris Brady for Matt Turner. Tim Weah for Sergiño Dest. Joe Scally for Alexander Freeman. Maximilian Arfsten for Antonee Robinson.

46' - Senegal Substitution

Pape Gueye for Lamine Camara. El Hadji Malick Diouf for Ismail Jakobs. Moustapha Mbow for Abdoulaye Seck.

2H - Second half

Underway.

HT - Halftime stats

Possession 55-45 USA. Shots 8-4, on target 2-2. USA had 10 touches in the Senegal box to 2.

HT - Halftime, USA 2-1 Senegal.

Not much to complain about in the first half from the USMNT, with the exception of the lapse that led to a late Senegal goal. Pulisic notches an assist and a goal within 20 minutes. Dest opened scoring. Pepi looking very good.

45+ - Stoppage time

Added time underway.

45+1' - Senegal Shot saved

Sadio Mané forces a save from Matt Turner.

45+1' - Senegal Shot on target

Mamadou Sarr forces a save from Matt Turner.

44' - Senegal Goal

Sadio Mané scores. 2-1. Senegal scores quickly on the break, Mané hits the left corner past Matt Turner. Not great effort to get back from the USMNT. Really their most grievous error of the half.

Sadio Mane pulls one back on the stroke of halftime. How are we feeling with 45 minutes to go?

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— Soccerwise (@soccerwisehq.bsky.social) May 31, 2026 at 3:43 PM

41' - Senegal Shot on target

Iliman Ndiaye forces a save from Matt Turner.

30' - USA 2-0 Senegal

Half hour gone. USA ahead.

24' - USA Chance

Christian Pulišić forces a save from Mory Diaw.

20' - USA Goal, 2-0

Christian Pulišić doubles the lead. 2-0. The USMNT is absolutely dominating early on. Through 20 minutes they have 64-percent possession and seven touches in the opposition box.

Christian Pulisic are you kidding me?! That's a goal and an assist inside of just 20 minutes 🤯

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— Soccerwise (@soccerwisehq.bsky.social) May 31, 2026 at 3:09 PM

14' - Massive save from Matt Turner

Turner met Sadio Mane on the edge of the box and slid in to make the save.

7' - USA Goal

Sergiño Dest opens the scoring after a beautiful cross in by Christian Pulisic. USMNT up early 1-0. If Pulisic does that all summer, no one will care if he's scoring goals or not.

Pulisic puts it on a platter for Dest and the USMNT leads early in Charlotte!

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— Soccerwise (@soccerwisehq.bsky.social) May 31, 2026 at 2:49 PM

2' - USMNT pressing early

Dest and Pulisic had a nice give and go, and Pulisic sent it across the middle of the Senegalese goal, with no one home to put in goal. Good effort though.

0' - Midfield starters are most interesting

Poch picks Berhalter, Tyler Adams and Sergiño Dest as his starting midfielders. That is probably the most interesting pick on paper. Reyna slots up right as winger opposite Pulisic.

0' - Matt Turner in goal

Matt Freese will probably open the group stage in goal against Paraguay, but Turner gets the start today.

0' - Ricard Pepi starts

Ricardo Pepi will be the lone striker to start the game against Senegal. It's expected that Folarin Balogun will get the nod when the World Cup begins. But Pepi gets his chance to show what he can do.

0' - USA runs a 4-3-3, Senegal a 3-4-3

We'll see how it shakes out, but the USMNT has an interesting lineup, at least on paper. Probably will end up as 5 at the back with two floating wingers.

How to Watch USA vs Senegal in the USA

USA vs Senegal was available in the United States on TBS / HBO Max / Telemundo / Peacock. The match kicked off at 3:30 PM EDT on Sunday, May 31 at Bank of America Stadium.

USA Lineup vs Senegal

  • USA (4-3-3): Matt Turner, Alexander Freeman, Mark McKenzie, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson, Giovanni Reyna, Tyler Adams, Sebastian Berhalter, Sergiño Dest, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulišić
  • Subs: Matthew Freese, Chris Brady, Auston Trusty, Miles Robinson, Joe Scally, Weston McKennie, Brenden Aaronson, Cristian Roldán, Malik Tillman, Maximilian Arfsten, Tim Weah, Alex Zendejas, Haji Wright, Folarin Balogun

Senegal Lineup vs USA

  • Senegal (3-4-3): Mory Diaw, Mamadou Sarr, Abdoulaye Seck, Ismail Jakobs, Krépin Diatta, Lamine Camara, Bara Sapoko Ndiaye, Habib Diarra, Iliman Ndiaye, Nicolas Jackson, Sadio Mané
  • Subs: Pape Sy, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Moussa Niakhaté, Moustapha Mbow, Ilay Camara, Pape Gueye, Pape Matar Sarr, Assane Diao, Ahmadou Bamba Dieng, Cherif Ndiaye

USA Last 10 Matches

  • Tuesday, March 31 - USA 0, Portugal 2
  • Saturday, March 28 - USA 2, Belgium 5
  • Wednesday, November 19 - USA 5, Uruguay 1
  • Saturday, November 15 - USA 2, Paraguay 1
  • Wednesday, October 15 - USA 2, Australia 1
  • Saturday, October 11 - USA 1, Ecuador 1
  • Tuesday, September 9 - USA 2, Japan 0
  • Saturday, September 6 - USA 0, South Korea 2
  • Sunday, July 6 - USA 1, Mexico 2
  • Wednesday, July 2 - USA 2, Guatemala 1

Senegal Last 10 Matches

  • Tuesday, March 31 - Senegal 3, Gambia 1
  • Saturday, March 28 - Senegal 2, Peru 0
  • Sunday, January 18 - Senegal 0, Morocco 3
  • Wednesday, January 14 - Senegal 1, Egypt 0
  • Friday, January 9 - Mali 0, Senegal 1
  • Saturday, January 3 - Senegal 3, Sudan 1
  • Tuesday, December 30 - Benin 0, Senegal 3
  • Saturday, December 27 - Senegal 1, Congo DR 1
  • Tuesday, December 23 - Senegal 3, Botswana 0
  • Tuesday, November 18 - Senegal 8, Kenya 0

USA Squad 2026

  • 1 - J. Klinsmann - GK
  • 1 - M. Turner - GK
  • 18 - P. Schulte - GK
  • 25 - M. Freese - GK
  • 26 - C. Brady - GK
  • — - R. Celentano - GK
  • 2 - S. Dest - DEF
  • 2 - J. Tolkin - DEF
  • 2 - A. Trusty - DEF
  • 3 - C. Richards - DEF
  • 5 - A. Robinson - DEF
  • 12 - M. Robinson - DEF
  • 13 - T. Ream - DEF
  • 16 - A. Freeman - DEF
  • 19 - J. Scally - DEF
  • 22 - M. McKenzie - DEF
  • 7 - G. Reyna - MID
  • 8 - S. Berhalter - MID
  • 8 - W. McKennie - MID
  • 10 - D. Luna - MID
  • 10 - C. Roldan - MID
  • 11 - B. Aaronson - MID
  • 11 - T. Tessmann - MID
  • 15 - J. Cardoso - MID
  • 16 - A. Morris - MID
  • 17 - M. Tillman - MID
  • 21 - T. Weah - MID
  • 26 - T. Tillman - MID
  • 9 - R. Pepi - FWD
  • 10 - C. Pulišić - FWD
  • 18 - M. Arfsten - FWD
  • 19 - H. Wright - FWD
  • 20 - F. Balogun - FWD
  • 24 - P. Agyemang - FWD

Senegal Squad 2026

  • 1 - Y. Diouf - GK
  • 16 - É. Mendy - GK
  • 23 - M. Diaw - GK
  • 2 - M. Sarr - DEF
  • 3 - K. Koulibaly - DEF
  • 4 - A. Seck - DEF
  • 14 - I. Jakobs - DEF
  • 19 - M. Niakhaté - DEF
  • 24 - A. Mendy - DEF
  • 25 - E. Diouf - DEF
  • — - N. Mendy - DEF
  • 5 - I. Gueye - MID
  • 6 - P. Ciss - MID
  • 7 - H. Diarra - MID
  • 8 - L. Camara - MID
  • 14 - I. Camara - MID
  • 15 - K. Diatta - MID
  • 17 - P. Sarr - MID
  • 26 - P. Gueye - MID
  • 28 - M. Camara - MID
  • 7 - Assane Diao - FWD
  • 9 - B. Dia - FWD
  • 9 - B. Dieng - FWD
  • 10 - S. Mané - FWD
  • 11 - N. Jackson - FWD
  • 12 - C. Ndiaye - FWD
  • 13 - I. Ndiaye - FWD
  • 18 - I. Sarr - FWD
  • 20 - M. Diakhon - FWD
  • 20 - H. Diallo - FWD
  • 21 - C. Sabaly - FWD
  • 22 - O. Niang - FWD
  • 27 - I. Mbaye - FWD