The U.S. men’s national team beat Senegal 3-2 in a World Cup warm-up on a night that began with Christian Pulisic slicing a pass to Sergino Dest for the opener and ended with Folarin Balogun coming off the bench to settle it. Pulisic added the second himself moments later, giving Mauricio Pochettino’s side a win that looked comfortable until it suddenly was not.
That matters now because the USMNT has one game left before its World Cup opener against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium, and this was the kind of result it needed in the final stretch before the 2026 World Cup on home soil. There is still plenty of negativity and pessimism around the team, but a performance built on aggression and enough attacking quality to score three against Senegal gives supporters something real to hold onto.
Senegal did not make it easy. Sadio Mane pulled one back before halftime and then tied the game shortly after the restart, turning what had been a two-goal cushion into a test of nerve. For a stretch, the U.S. looked as if it might let a strong start drift away, which is exactly the sort of wobble that lingers in a tournament cycle when the margins tighten and every lapse gets magnified.
Instead, the response came from Balogun, who arrived as a substitute and scored the winner later in the match. The result fed the feeling that the attack can carry weight when it is clicking, with one fan calling Senegal “no slouch” and saying the performance was encouraging. Another praised the form of the forwards, while others pointed to the defensive work that still needs cleaning up after 80 minutes of uneasy transition moments.
The broader takeaway is simple: this was not a perfect dress rehearsal, but it was a useful one. Pochettino’s team showed enough bite to beat a dangerous opponent, enough composure to recover after Senegal erased the lead, and enough firepower to keep the conversation focused on what the U.S. can do next rather than what it lacks. Germany is up on Saturday, and if the Americans can repeat the sharper parts of this performance there, the build toward Paraguay becomes a lot easier to believe.
