The Stars and Stripes Locked In Their Final Tune-Ups
USMNT finalized its World Cup warm up opponents on Thursday.
The United States men’s national team is about to face some serious tests before the biggest tournament in soccer kicks off on home soil. US Soccer dropped the news that Senegal will be heading to Charlotte, North Carolina on May 31 for what’s going to be the team’s second-to-last match before the World Cup begins.
Here’s what makes this one special: The Americans have never played Senegal. Not once. That’s right—this is a completely fresh matchup, and it’s coming at exactly the right time. With the World Cup co-hosted by the US, Mexico, and Canada, there’s no margin for error, and testing yourself against an opponent you’ve never faced is the kind of challenge that reveals what you’re really made of.
A Gauntlet of World-Class Competition
The Senegal friendly isn’t happening in isolation. The US has lined up a murderer’s row of opponents to get themselves ready. Before they take on the African champions, they’ll be squaring off with Belgium and Portugal—both in Atlanta. Belgium sits at No. 8 in the world rankings, Portugal at No. 6. Those are massive games.
After Senegal, the final dress rehearsal comes against Germany in Chicago on June 6. Germany is ranked ninth globally. So let’s recap: the 14th-ranked Americans are going to face the 8th, 6th, 19th, and 9th-ranked teams in the world in the span of about two and a half months. That’s not a warm-up schedule—that’s a gauntlet.
And honestly? That’s exactly what they need.
What Senegal Brings to the Table
Don’t sleep on Senegal just because they’re ranked 19th. The Lions of Teranga are stacked with talent and battle-tested at the highest level. They won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2021 and made it to the knockout rounds of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where they gave eventual quarterfinalists England all they could handle before bowing out 3-0.
Senegal’s roster features some seriously dangerous players, including former Liverpool star Sadio Mané. Mané is the kind of player who can take over a game in an instant, and facing that caliber of talent is precisely what the US needs heading into their Group D opener against Paraguay on June 12 in Inglewood, California.
The Americans will follow that up with matches against Australia on June 19 in Seattle and then a third group game back in Inglewood on June 25 against whoever comes out of a playoff involving Turkey, Slovakia, Romania, and Kosovo. It’s a tricky group, but it’s also one the US should navigate if they’re serious about making noise in this tournament.
No Room for Excuses
The stage is set. The opponents are legit. The pressure is mounting. This is what the US Soccer Federation has been building toward for years, and now it’s time to see if all that investment and infrastructure pays off when the lights are brightest.
Playing Senegal, a team they’ve never faced before, is the perfect wild card to throw into the mix. You can’t game-plan years in advance for an opponent you’ve never seen. You just have to adapt, read the game, and execute. That’s World Cup soccer in a nutshell.
The May 31 date in Charlotte is circled on the calendar. It’s a chance to measure themselves against elite African competition and fine-tune the system before the tournament kicks off. With Belgium, Portugal, Senegal, and Germany all lined up, the USMNT is leaving nothing to chance. They’re going toe-to-toe with the best, and by the time June 12 rolls around, they’ll be ready.
