Senegal is already settled in New Jersey, and the countdown to France has begun. Four days before its World Cup opener in East Rutherford, Pape Thiaw and his players were greeted by supporters outside their hotel, turning a routine arrival into a small homecoming.
The match everyone is circling comes on 16 June 2026 at 19h TU, when Senegal meets France in East Rutherford. The team’s base in the United States matters because it gives the Lions a place to work and wait between matches in Group I, with Norway and Iraq still to come after France.
What made the scene stand out was not only the welcome but the scale of it. A small hundred Senegal supporters gathered near the security barriers at the hotel entrance, while police and barriers kept the entrance tightly controlled. The players still found time to acknowledge them warmly, a brief exchange that said as much about the mood around the squad as any formal statement could have.
For Amadou, the trip was personal. He has lived in New Jersey for 28 years and said he had been at the hotel area since the morning, after coming the previous two days as well. He felt fortunate that Senegal had chosen New Jersey as its base and said he could not stay away.
Momodou, who has lived in the United States for 18 years and lives in Manhattan, brought a different kind of memory to the crowd. The restaurateur said the last time he saw the Lions in person was when they reached the quarter-finals at the 2002 World Cup. Now he is back for a fourth World Cup finals appearance, after 2002, 2018 and 2022, with the belief that this trip should feel bigger than a routine tournament stop.
That is the contradiction at the heart of Senegal’s opening days in the United States: a team embraced by expatriate fans, yet kept behind a hard line of security as it prepares for one of the most watched matches of the group stage. The support is real, but so is the pressure of a schedule that moves quickly from France to Norway on 23 June 2026 at 00 TU and then Iraq on 26 June 2026 at 19h TU.
Senegal’s next step is clear. The team has four days to turn the warmth outside its hotel into something useful on the pitch in East Rutherford, where the first answer to its World Cup will come against France.
