Post-match: USA v Senegal - May 31, 2026 - International Friendly [R]

you made the statement that this was the best African federation team and I am simply saying that Morocco has been taking many UEFA teams apart for the last few years. I would have been even more impressed if we had beaten Morocco 3-2 …

Not denigrating our win over Senegal one iota.

 

Mystery solved on the Aaronson wedding front: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/73...aronson-wedding-details-usmnt-world-cup-camp/

The original start date for the camp was June 1, so they planned around that, then the date was moved up a week in December.

 

I watched the game in a crowded AO bar/brewery….. and can’t recall… did SB even take a deadball?

 

I don't recall any, but there was also a dearth of free kicks for us in positions where he'd take them until late in the game after he'd been subbed out.

 

Senegal only committed 9 fouls in the entire match (Berhalter committed 7 himself lol), and we had 4 corners, so there weren't a ton of set piece opportunities.

 

IIRC Tillman took 2 corners (both short to a teammate) and Zendejas took a free kick.

 

God, that's an awful amount of free kicks given up by one person, if accurate.

I didn't like his fouling, but didn't think there were that many…

Source?

 

No, I remember zero lol. You'd have to go back to 2010 where I thought we had one. Admittedly we had striker options from probably '94-'10, although Wynalda was usually started out of position (I can't remember '90's striker?). Jozy got hurt so early in '14 we had no striker options, and we had none worth a damn in '22, though I had hopes for Sargent.

Now we've got two elite options, and one solid option. It's pretty amazing.

 

I only counted 4 re-watching the game tightly, and maybe there was a fifth. I'm pretty sure it was only 4 as well, as I saw the ref warn Berhalter after #4, presumably for PI. Two of the fouls were pretty ticky tack.

There were two free kicks off of it. The first was so far away it was really nothing. The second was from the side and created no danger, but it was effectively a corner.

 

Fotmob.

 

I know Morocco had their run in '22, a good chunk to me being smoke and mirrors (Canada outplayed them in the group stage, they needed pens to get past Japan etc), I have been really impressed with them at the youth level where they've been spectacular (it is worth noting an absolute ton at the senior level is being done w/dual nats born in France, they've done a good job of getting switches)....but in terms of CAF, it's really Senegal that's been the flagship side....Ghana and Ivory Coast largely ruled from 2005-2015, and Senegal has ruled the past decade (2 AFCON titles, and a runner up, when they've been knocked out early ('17, and '23) they were knocked out by the champion, and I believe both times were in penalties, not even regulation losses. During this Senegal decade Morocco improved at the AFCON level, but until hosting this past tournament they were ousted early each tournament.

This past tournament they cheated their way to the final and cheated some more in the final, and still lost, and needed the CAF bureacracy to steal Senegal's crown to get their first AFCON title, via theft that is, since the 1970's, and their first final appearance in 21 years.

Senegal's been better, period, I'll give Morocco a good run at the WC '22, I envy it, but Senegal has been consistently outstanding regionally, and good as well in the WC, though not at that WC '22 level (4 points and failed to advance on the fair play tiebreaker in '18, in '22 they met powerhouse England in the R16's).....

The problem with this game was Senegal was erratically committed to the match, in prior posts I wondered what they were even after in all this, but the fact that they just cut a defender responsible for multiple errors in the game, 1 of which lead to a goal suggests that they cared at least to some extent, but yeah, Senegal's record the past eight years suggests that they weren't themselves at all on sunday, I just don't know why. Do recall that we absolutely smashed to bits Morocco 6 months before the WC in '22....so, I don't really think beating Morocco would have meant a ton either beyond misplaced and likely unjustified ego massage.

 

haha - theft - theft - theft - steal

next time tell me what you really think.

 

what did folks think of Chris Brady overall making his debut?

 

I hear you, I didn't think much of it, until I leaned into what happened against Nigeria in the semi's, then I understood it, and then if you dig into what happened in the Final (the goalie shenanigans, the waived off legit penalty for Senegal followed immediately by a penalty rewarded after home town cooking/pressure from fans, players actively involved in harassing the Senegal goalie, same with ball boys)....it was insane, completely and totally insane, and you can tell very clearly that there was an effort pushed to get this flagship CAF side across the line after going basically 50 years w/o winning it, and then when they still couldn't get it done, they basically did it at the administration level. It was even worse than the rigging of the Panama/Mexico Gold Cup match in '15.

 

He was nervous, and was too hesitant coming out to get that ball which eventually went in the net. He booted the ball upfield a few times when he didn't find a good pass. Mostly, I'm hoping it was just first-cap nerves. I haven't watched any Fire games over the last 2 seasons, so can't speak to any personal opinion of his play in general, but he did win the 3rd keeper spot over several other solid choices.

 

I will say that one of his boots went insanely far with what seemed like little effort. Kid has a leg.

 

The one thing I would say is that while I think Balogun is the "best" overall, and I think he's the starter (and I mostly agree with that), Pepi seems to have the best chemistry with Pulisic. That matters.

 

I'm not sure either forward has played with the other starters enough to know if either has better chemistry. I will add that Balogun likes to move left near the box and that could mean he's in the spaces Pulisic likes. It could however be great if they sync and Pulisic moves centrally into the space Balogun vacates. That might actually make his wasted time at ACM useful as a forward in their dumb scheme.

If there was more time to play around I'd like to see Pulisic on the right where he played mostly for ACM before the coach went dumb and Balogun on the left with Pepi as the CF. Basically swapping Balogun for Dest or Weah and putting Pulisic on the right where he's more of a winger who has assists via crosses.

 

That's a valid point, though Christian is most goal-dangerous cutting in from the left. Still, it's probably worth minutes in the friendly tomorrow to experiment with. Getting the combinations right is likely the difference between success and failure. But what, then, to do with Dest?

If nothing else, it would give Paraguay and Australia something more to have to prepare for.

 

I wouldn't do it now but it would have been worth trying earlier in the cycle. Of course Balogun was injured during some of it and Pepi also. We're lucky (knock on wood) that we are the healthiest we've been since the last WC at the moment. Holding my breath no injuries for a month or so. Germany and Paraguay both had injuries to important players yesterday.