The U.S. men’s national team’s bounce-back win over Senegal on Sunday might not affect their FIFA World Cup schedule but it could play a major role in their quest to be competitive this summer.
A 3-2 home victory over No. 14-ranked Senegal helped the Americans rebound from a pair of March defeats and get plenty of key players on the right track again. Christian Pulisic ended his lengthy goalscoring drought, Folarin Balogun continued his positive run in the squad, and Ricardo Pepi play a factor in both of the USMNT’s first-half goals.
Although a pair of defensive lapses allowed Senegalese star Sadio Mane to find the back of the net twice, USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino was pleased with his squad’s overall performance against a top side.
“Many positive things,” said Pochettino postmatch. “[Also] things that we need to improve, obvious things that we need to improve. But I’m happy to finish the first week training and competing [against] a really good team like Senegal.
“It’s important to get good feelings,” he added. “We are still a little bit short in our preparation, but I think we are going in a good direction. In the way that we concede the goals, I think we need to improve, and not to allow the opponent to create the chances that we concede. But overall, I think it was a positive day.”
Pulisic may have been limited to only 45 minutes but the USMNT star made his performance count. The 27-year-old teed up Sergino Dest for the Americans opening goal after six minutes before dialing his own number 14 minutes later, using a swift move around Senegal’s Mory Diaw and a tap in to end his 559-day international goalless drought.
After a tough second half of the season for Italian club AC Milan, Pulisic showed signs of being back to his best again. He credited the team’s fast start to the match in helping them move to 7-0-0 in their last seven matches against African opponents.
“This is a really good [Senegal] team as well,” Pulisic said postmatch on TNT’s broadcast. “I thought we just brought so much energy right from the start, the way we pressed them, the way we created chances. We could have had even more. I’m really happy with the performance.”
The USMNT held their own against Senegal, even having two goals waived off due to offsides and foul decisions. Balogun was denied a sensational right-footed strike only minutes after coming onto the pitch while Malik Tillman was also rejected the chance to further pad the USMNT’s lead after halftime.
Most importantly, Pochettino kept things fresh, with a total of 22 players earning minutes in Sunday’s match. Only midfielder Sebastian Berhalter played more than 45 minutes in the match, while Brenden Aaronson and Haji Wright were the only outfield players to not feature at all.
All-in-all, it was a good test for the USMNT heading into their final pre-World Cup friendly against Germany on Saturday, where the Americans will hope to receive the same energy from the home fans like they did in Charlotte on Sunday.
“With that attitude and commitment, we have the talent; we have players that have enormous talent,” Pochettino said. “But the important thing, more for us and more to continue improving, is also for the fans, that [they] really believe in us. The good feelings with that victory, I think it’s more important for the environment than for us.
“It’s important also for the environment, to trust a little bit after the last two games against Belgium and Portugal, that was a little bit – you win a game, you are on the top, you lose again, you are [down],” he added. “It’s to try to find that balance and to arrive to the competition, the official competition, the World Cup, with good feelings.”