Christian Pulisic scored his first goal of 2026 and Folarin Balogun came off the bench to net the game winner as the United States men’s national came away with a positive result in their World Cup friendly over Senegal on Sunday at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Head coach Mauricio Pochettino went with a 3-4-3 formation in the contest, with Mark McKenzie, Alex Freeman, and Tim Ream in the backline in the place of Chris Richards, who is out with an ankle injury. Sebastian Berhalter played alongside Tyler Adams in the midfield, with Antonee Robinson and Sergino Dest occupied the wingback spots. Ricardo Pepi got the nod at center-forward with Pulisic and Gio Reyna up front.
The Americans struck seven minutes into the contest when Pulisic took a pass from Pepi that allowed him dribble the ball down the left side of the 18-yard box, and send a low cross to Dest for a tap in. They went on to double their lead in the 20th minute when Pepi’s pass to center saw Pulisic go around Senegal’s goalkeeper Mory Diaw and slot the ball home.
Senegal cut the deficit in the 44th minute through Sadio Mane as he ran on a through ball from Habib Diarra to put his shot past Matt Turner.
The U.S. made 10 personnel changes to start the second half, and thought it had restored its two-goal lead in the 49th minute with a Balogun goal, but it was disallowed for an offside.
The African champions leveled the score in the 52nd minute when a poor pass from Miles Robinson was blocked by Nicolas Jackson, lifting the ball over goalkeeper Chris Brady, and Mane was on the spot to tap the ball in.
However, the lead was restored in the 63rd minute when Tim Weah’s cross from the right side took a deflection in the area, but the ball landed in the direction of Balogun to fire his shot into the back of the net.
The U.S. will get prepared for its next tune-up game against Germany on Saturday, June 6, at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois.
