Pulisic Ends Drought but US Defending Clouds 3-2 Senegal Win

Christian Pulisic ended a five-month scoring drought on Sunday, scoring once and setting up another as the United States men’s national team beat Senegal 3-2 in Charlotte, the opening match of a two-game send-off before the World Cup it hosts this summer. A crowd of 57,741 at Bank of America Stadium watched the most fluid US attacking display in months, a sharp turn from a dispiriting March.

The scoreline came easier than the performance deserved. Senegal forward Sadio Mané scored on either side of halftime, both goals built on US giveaways, and the late-half lapses that defined a grim spring window showed up again less than two weeks before the tournament opens.

Pulisic Ends a Five-Month Drought in Charlotte

The opener was the kind of move the US rarely strings together. A 10-pass sequence ran from captain Tim Ream, the Charlotte FC defender earning his 81st cap in his home club’s stadium, out to Fulham left-back Antonee Robinson, forward to PSV’s Ricardo Pepi, and finally to Pulisic, whose pinpoint cross was touched home by PSV wing-back Sergiño Dest.

Nineteen minutes in, the AC Milan winger had one of his own. Pepi slipped him a through ball roughly 20 yards out, a deft first touch took Senegal goalkeeper Mory Diaw out of the play, and an angled right-footed finish made it 2-0. For a player who had spent the spring as a question mark, it was a reminder of why he remains the most important attacker in Mauricio Pochettino’s plans.

The 27-year-old had not contributed a goal or assist for his country since September 2025, when he set up a friendly win over Japan. The dry run stretched across more than 20 matches for club and country, long enough that his place in the starting XI had become a talking point rather than a given.

• 19th minute: the moment Pulisic beat Diaw for his first international goal of the calendar year.
• September 2025: his previous goal contribution, an assist in a 2-0 win over Japan.
• 2-0: the lead the US built inside 20 minutes before any of the trouble started.

Mané’s Brace Came Straight off US Mistakes

Senegal needed an opening, and the US handed them two. The first arrived just before the interval, when an errant pass from Robinson invited pressure, Tyler Adams was beaten to the loose ball, and Mané finished cleanly to cut the lead to 2-1.

Pochettino reshuffled completely at the break, replacing every outfield player except midfielder Sebastian Berhalter and pushing Chris Brady into goal in place of Matt Turner. The presumed third-choice keeper, who has been among the best in Major League Soccer this season, got an early test he would rather forget.

Within minutes of the restart, defender Miles Robinson played a loose back pass that Mané pounced on, charging at goal. Brady was late off his line and could not intervene, and Senegal had their equalizer at 2-2. A first-half cushion had vanished in the span of a few minutes either side of halftime.

The US winner came in the 62nd minute and, fittingly, from their press. Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie won the ball high, fed Timothy Weah wide, and Weah’s cross deflected into the path of forward Folarin Balogun, who finished for the 3-2 final. The attack carried the night; the defending nearly gave it away.

Conceding Around Halftime Keeps Happening

This is not a one-off. The US conceded within 10 minutes of the halftime whistle in both March friendlies, and Sunday extended the habit. Against a side as direct as Senegal, who control transitions and punish turnovers, that timing has become a genuine vulnerability rather than bad luck.

• Portugal (March): the US wobbled around the break in a 2-0 home loss.
• Belgium (March): another concession close to halftime in a flat performance.
• Senegal (Sunday): Mané twice, on either side of the interval, both off US errors.

The throughline is positioning in possession. Senegal’s chances came from US players turning the ball over in poor areas, where a back line that lacks recovery pace gets exposed. For a host nation expected to advance deep, surrendering momentum at the most predictable point of a match is the sort of detail that decides knockout games.

Pochettino’s Spine Is Still Unsettled

Beyond the attacking glow, the head coach left Charlotte with the same open questions he carried in. Midfielder Gio Reyna made his first start for club or country since November 2025, when the US beat Paraguay, and the night did little to clarify who owns the goalkeeper jersey or the center of defense.

No Settled Goalkeeper

Turner started fresh off a strong club run with the New England Revolution, and Brady’s second-half cameo did nothing to settle the order. Pochettino still has no settled goalkeeper, an unusual position to hold this close to a major tournament.

Here is the live depth chart heading into the final tune-up, drawn from the US Soccer starting lineup notes for the Senegal friendly:

A Back Line Short on Pace

The first-half center-back pairing of Mark McKenzie and Ream looked the more composed of the two combinations Pochettino tried. The second-half pairing of Auston Trusty and Miles Robinson struggled, and the giveaway that gifted Mané his equalizer came from that group.

The recurring issue is speed. When the US lose the ball in advanced areas, the back line cannot recover quickly enough to cover, and quick forwards run into the space behind. Senegal exploited it twice; better opponents at the World Cup will look to do the same.

Send-Off Results Have Never Predicted the Tournament

For all the conclusions a win like this invites, the history is a caution against reading too much into either direction. Tune-up form and World Cup results have shown almost no correlation for the US over the years.

In 2006, the US beat up on Venezuela and Latvia in their send-off matches, then crashed out in the group stage. Four years earlier, before their best modern World Cup run to the quarterfinals, they limped through a lackluster friendly against the Netherlands.

One streak does carry weight, though. The US have never lost both send-off matches before a World Cup, and Sunday’s result guarantees they will not start that record now. More than the performance itself, the result handed players and supporters a confidence boost that a two-loss March had drained, as US Soccer noted in its preview of the Charlotte send-off match.

Germany Next, Then Paraguay on June 12

The schedule does not ease up. One friendly remains, against Germany on Saturday, June 6, a far stiffer test of the defensive habits that resurfaced against Senegal. A side of that caliber will not need US mistakes to find the goal.

Then comes the real thing. The US open their home World Cup on June 12 against Paraguay, the same opponent they beat in that November 2025 friendly. The margin for the kind of lapses Mané punished shrinks to almost nothing once group play begins.

The tournament arrives amid scrutiny off the pitch as well, from the ongoing ticket-pricing dispute at MetLife Stadium to questions about Pochettino’s roster choices. The football questions are simpler to state and harder to fix.

If the attack that carved Senegal open shows up against Germany and the back line tightens its grip around halftime, the US walk into the opener with genuine belief. If the defending stays this loose, the same goals that flattered into a 3-2 win on Sunday will cost them points once the matches count.