USA vs. Senegal Preview
First of two pre-World Cup friendlies for the US
The USMNT begins their World Cup in twelve days in LA against Paraguay. Mauricio Pochettino has named his squad and there seems to finally be a sense of excitement for this team and this tournament. But before World Cup starts, the US has a pair of warm-up friendlies to get through. And following a theme established in September, these two games are against high quality opposition. The first of these two games is in Charlotte against Senegal.
The American roster for this game, and of course the World Cup, was revealed at a special event in New York on Tuesday. The 26 players going to the World Cup are: Matt Freese, Matt Turner, and Chris Brady in goal; Max Arfsten, Sergino Dest, Alex Freeman, Mark McKenzie, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Miles Robinson, Joe Scally, and Austin Trusty on the backline; Tyler Adams, Sebastian Berhalter, Weston McKennie, Gio Reyna, Cristian Roldan, and Malik Tillman in the midfield; and Brenden Aaronson, Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, Haji Wright, and Alejandro Zendejas in the attack. All in all, it’s mostly considered about as good a roster as Pochettino could have picked, with perhaps the exclusion of Diego Luna.
For this US team, competing well and getting good results in these two final pre-World Cup friendlies is absolutely vital. The two March friendlies against Belgium and Portugal were an unmitigated disaster. But prior to that, the US had an excellent run of form, as from September to November, they went five games unbeaten against teams that were qualified for the World Cup. A pair of results against Senegal and Germany like those in the fall could send expectations for this US team sky high while a pair of results against Senegal and Germany like those in March could send morale the floor.
Senegal has been in imperious form over the last calendar year. Last June, they got a draw with Ireland in Dublin and a win over England in Nottingham. They swept through their final World Cup qualifying games with four wins out of four games in the fall. And then, they went all the way to the final of the African Cup of Nations in January where, on the field, they beat their Moroccan hosts but, off the field, had their win vacated and the title passed to Morocco. Their March window went much better than it did for the US, as they beat Peru 2-0 and Gambia 3-1. In fact, over the last calendar year, Senegal has only lost (on the field) once: a 2-0 November loss to Brazil. Their roster for this game against the US (and for the World Cup) is littered with both experience and talent. Defender Kalidou Koulibaly has 102 caps for his country, midfielder Idrissa Gueye has 130 international appearances, and the star man Sadio Mane has 52 goals to go with his 124 appearances for the Lions of Teranga.
Notes:
1. Sunday’s game against Senegal is just the second appearance by the USMNT in Charlotte, after a Gold Cup game against Trinidad & Tobago in 2023 drew 40,243.
When, Where
Date: Sunday, May 31, 2026
Stadium: Bank of America Stadium
City: Charlotte, NC
Time: 2:30pm CT
TV: TBS
All-Time Series
First meeting
Current FIFA Ranking
USA: 16
Senegal: 14
Next Game
Date: Saturday, June 6, 2026
Competition: International Friendly
Match-Up: USA vs. Germany
Stadium: Soldier Field
City: Chicago, IL
Time: 1:30pm CT
TV: TBS
Photo Credit: US Soccer