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

criticism isnt the issue, its who youre allowed and absolutely not allowed to criticize on bs.

and to be clear- analyzing the match in any way is unacceptably negative criticism here.

 

Good point.

 

That's not Senegal. These guys totally shut down Morocco a few months ago, didn't lose a game that whole tourney despite playing DR Congo, Mali, Egypt, and Morocco. In '23 they didn't lose a game, pounded Cameroon, ended up losing early to eventual winners Ivory Coast on penalties. In '21 they also won it all, but no real thrilling performances against great teams, they beat a strong Burkina Faso (similar to DR Congo, they've been on the periphery of qualifying for WC's and winning AFCON's for the past couple of decades but keep stumbling), and then outlasted Egypt in the final on penalties. Their path to the tournament required them to handle business in the group, and then get 4 or more off DR Congo, and they did the job, tying DR Congo at home, and beating them on the road 3-2. It's worth noting that DR Congo would later beat Cameroon AND Nigeria to advance to the March playoff where they beat Jamaica.

They're legit good. They survived a group with the Dutch and Ecuador in '22, and were unlucky against England (they dominated England in the first 25 mins or so but couldn't finish their chances, then England scored, and dominated the rest of the match).

They're legit good, I think they were peak in probably 2018-2023 or thereabouts, but they're still damn good, just too dependent still on Mane.

Sometimes w/friendlies, we don't really know what a team is trying to accomplish, it can be as simple as avoid injuries, but stay fresh and match fit, sometimes it can involve experimenting with positions, formations, tactics, or particular players evaluations...I don't know what Senegal was doing, I just know they sucked today. To put it simply, they gave up 3 goals today, and 3 goals during the entirety of qualifying from 2023-2025. At the AFCON, THAT THEY WON (definitely sticks in my craw that Morocco cheated their way to the final, tried to steal it their, lost, and then stole it afterwards, just absurd), they gave up 2 goals in 7 games, 1 to DR Congo in the Group Stage, the other, quite oddly, to a horrible Sudan side (before they shut out Mali, Egypt, and Morocco in succession).

I don't know what the hell happened today, but it's pretty nuts that they gave up more goals than they gave up in the entire AFCON a few months ago, and equal to what they gave up in the entirety of qualifying. They were AWFUL today, and we were also fantastic. Their attack was still lethal, but defending was just comically bad. xG says we were owed about 2.75 or thereabouts, but I saw 4 or 5 goals we probably should have finished. That's NUTS.

 

FTR, it was an unusual, really fun game to watch, a bit like the Uruguay game, but with worse finishing on our part, and worse defending too. There were just a lot of individual little bits in the attack that were really pleasing to see performance wise, Pepi was great, Balo created nonstop danger, he just couldn't finish, Tillman was finding blind/creative passes every couple of minutes w/o fail repeatedly creating goal dangerous situations, McKennie woke up after a bit of an erratic start to play well, Dest was very good, we survived despite the D, GK's, and Adams all having bad days other than Freeman (who again was quite good).....there were a lot of promising pieces to take away from this, and a lot of XI approach is kind of coming into focus. It's hard not too imagine that we are absolutely rolling out Adams, McKennie and Tillman, Pepi made a strong claim for sub minutes, and to erase any thought that Wright should be the backup, and maybe that Balo should start watching his back if he can't finish his chances....

There's some to worry about for sure, but it was promising. Get the sense we should be able to find some winning goals in at least 2 of 3 group games w/some luck. Not sure how Turkey will play out though.

 

Holy hell you people tagging me are pathetic

 

Morocco is calling and wants you to reconsider that statement.

 

Some commwnta -

1. The outside with Freeman/Dest and Jedi/Pulisic is lethal on the counter - I think those wings can line up nicely against Yamal or Dembele or Mbappe … Freeman simply has papa’s genes and Green Bay is proud …
2. Reyna is good and creative but doubt he can be relied on for more than 20 minutes - still wondering if Covid permanently damaged his lungs - but for 20 minutes he could make the difference - so hard to take the ball from him …
3. I still think Wes needs to be in the middle with Adams or on the back line if Richards is not good to go.
4. The wedding - BA is not going to do it in the winter - (Leeds do pay his wages but doubt his bride wanted a winter wedding where he flies back across the pond) - he can do it before or after the WC - I imagine he told Poch some time back of his plans - if he does it after the WC then Poch wonders where his head is during the games and training - do it before the WC and honeymoon afterwards and get back to day 1 training for Leeds - his choice (their choice actually) makes perfect sense to me … as others have said - he is probably a sub anyways …

 

Prior to Senegal, I thought there was a significant drop-off from Balogun to Pepi. Now I'm not so sure.

 

Yeah, I don't know anything about the Senegalese defender that gave the ball away to Zendejas, but he sure caught up way easier than I expected. I was a little disappointed because it looked like Z was giving his all and still lost that race handily.

EDIT: I looked up the defender (Mbow). AI says his top speed is 36.36 km/hr. FIFA 26 doesn't seem to think he's so fast (sprint speed 75). I can't find any actual top speed info for Zendejas, but FIFA 26 claims he's got a sprint speed of 80. Something's bullshit.

I'd like to add that, generally, Senegal seemed to play this match at low intensity. There were some moments that they showed extra effort, and certain players more than others, but for the most part they played like they didn't want injuries (which was always the most likely outcome). The US didn't go all out, either, but I'd say our guys put in more effort to this match. McKennie, especially, put in several significant tackles that pushed the boundaries of acceptability in a pre-WC friendly. I was glad to see him play like he wants to be there.

 

One thing Poch mentioned after the game was that this is probably the first time he's had a fully fit and in form Pepi since the early days of his tenure. During the fall friendlies Poch said there was clear distance between Balogun/Wright and Pepi in camp.

 

at the WC international level - physical prowess stands out ... the delta between Freeman and Weah and Zendejas is noticeable .... Alex is great ... but he just isn't fast enough in the open field for the international game where you must capitalize on opponent mistakes .... frankly I was surprised he did not cut left and get to the top of the circle and shoot from there - would have forced the Senegalese defender to his right or forced him to take him down from behind .... he shifted to his weaker foot to avoid the defender and in so doing cut down the angle to the keeper .. should have just cut left and forced the defender to bring him down from behind.

 

and Haji has not even gotten on the pitch yet ... we have a full fledged striker competition - have we ever had that?

 

Well doesn't this just go to Brendan's football IQ? A smart player would have scheduled it for the week he was due back for pre-season training.

 

I'm not angry at the guy about it (point 4) but I'm also not an idiot. That it would clash with the World Cup was 1000% obvious. There wasn't any question of even whether we'd be in it like back in '18, we would be, and even in '18, like '22's winter edition, late May was a camp window, so there's literally never been a time in the past 40 years (other than 1986) where this wasn't a window he'd be called in for, if he made the team. So there was literally no way you could plan a wedding here and not get a fundamental conflict w/the biggest team duty of his playing career, if he made the team (only time he could ever play for the USMNT in a WC as a team hosting said tourney). It was just insane to do this. Use July, as I said before, the last time July mattered was just July 4th 1994 against Brazil, 32 years ago, so you have almost the entire month, but late May through June? That's booked. Sounds like Poch and the team turned it into a team building chemistry thing, instead of an idiotic lack of commitment thing, so good for them, unlike Klinsy and Donovan, but yeah, this was totally avoidable and obviously so. Do I care that much? Only in as much as that it was remarkably dunderheaded in terms of timing, and having planned it 2 years ago is irrelevant, this May/June/Early July being conflicted in terms of dates was known for the past EIGHT YEARS. But again, not angry at all, and it actually makes me like Poch and the coaches and the players more, considering they made it a team building exercise instead of like Klinsy, a way to make an example of a player.

 

The 2 biggest surprises for me were:
1. Tillman’s effort. He’s shown none of this for club
2. Freeman’s dominance as a CB

We really need Richards back and he needs to replace Ream who wasn’t bad yesterday but doesn’t give me confidence. If only we had Ream from 2-3yrs ago.

 

They're just totally different w/wildly different strengths and differences, but what they do well, totally unrelated to one another, make them both easily the best strikers we've ever had, or maybe more specifically the most talented (McBride and Wynalda were pretty ridiculous too, the former just didn't have their explosiveness, while Wynalda didn't get enough opportunity and MLS ruined what could have been an insane career as a forward (striker and winger combined, set piece taker, finisher, assist maker, he's remarkably underrated).

But anyway, they are so different they should be seen as different players who probably work better than one another depending upon opponents matchups. What makes this weird is I thought it would be a Balo game, but it ended up being a Balo AND a Pepi game, and the only reason Balo fell to earth was his weakness meh finishing, while Pepi played spectacular in a more open transition game (like in the Netherlands)....

Who makes better sense for each team in the group stage if you just remember their strengths and weaknesses? I tend to think Balo is probably worse against a low block where his pace and physicality on breakaways is less likely to be taken advantage of, but other people probably have a better grasp on it than me. I tend to think Pepi's more reliable pin point finishing is more desirable against Paraguay, Balo more desirable against Australia and Turkey.

 

I don't know.

He probably thought that the period between the club season and any final WC preparations was as good of a time as any. Leeds' preseason tour starts in July. There is so little downtime for these players after the WC.

Brenden has been with this team a lot. He was training with the group, went to the wedding, came back (was on our bench ready to play if needed against Senegal) and our first game still isn't until June 12th. He only had a one-day leave of absence.

I suspect that this wedding was scheduled for a long time, and the request was of no surprise to anyone on the USMNT/USSF staff.

[Since none of the other USMNT players could attend, they watched the ceremony on a laptop.]

 

Take another look at the first US goal. Reyna started in line with Pepi and Dest, pushed up on the backs. By the time Pulisic is crossing the ball, Dest has sprinted into the danger area. Reyna is 3 or 4 yards inside the penalty area,

Perhaps having the ball at his feet slowed him?

 

I think he wanted to give 2 strikers the 45, and I imagine the next game is splitting Balo and Wright, I tend to think the comp is the #2 job, but in my view, it should be obvious that Pepi and Balo are matchup based starters, they are Both alpha level starters w/particular weaknesses that make them matchup dependent. Wright should obviously always be the #3 (to me anyway). Interesting just now to hear the soccer wise guys+Doyle talk about their disappointment w/Roldan, and the foolishness of only having Adams at the 6 and little depth of note beyond him......

 

The quick answer is that they tried a new formation with different personnel.

They played a back 4 in the AFCON final, with Mendy in goal and then, left to right, Diouf, Niakhite, Sarr, and A. Mendy.

Last night, they played with a back 5, with Diaw in goal, then, left to right, Jakobs, Sarr, Seck, Diatta, Ndiaye. Diouf came on at halftime, Niakhite in the 71st (for Sarr). So, at no point in the game did they have more than 2 of their AFCON final defensive starters on the field, and they were playing in a new structure.

 

That doesn't work though. All he'd have to do is wiki past USMNT WC teams and their friendlies, in '06 our friendlies were played during the last week of May, so camp was probably mid may through July, in '09 it was later, first friendly June 3rd, so camp started last week of May, in '14 it was May 27th, in '98 it was the entire second half of May (AND LATE April), in '02 it was a bit earlier because the WC opened a full week earlier than usual (so mid may was the friendlies)....but yeah, this window literally has NEVER worked other than 1986 because we didn't qualify, 2018 if you didn't care about the friendlies we scheduled for France etc, and 2022 because it was a Winter WC, but even in '18 and '22, we had games scheduled and a camp in late May that would have conflicted....Just book it for July 10th-31st, preferably the second half of the month, period and you're fine. There's literally no chance he wouldn't have demands on him if he made the team, none.

 

Look, I think we definitely wanted it more than they did, and they were still 4-5 guys short on their roster with club commitments. It is a friendly. So there are caveats galore.

The have lost 1 game on the pitch (Brazil) in forever. They are ranked higher than we are. And beating a good African team certainly has been problematic for us in the past (cough, cough, Ghana).

Yes, there were poor moments. As there will be in a 90 min match. The MRob/Brady sequence was keystone cops level. And few loose passes & turnovers. A few chances we couod have finished but didn't.

But the people harping on how bad Ream and Berhalter were are just looney IMHO. I am mot saying one cannot criticize elements or plays. Of course you can. Berhalter got beat at the D and gave up a threatening shot that just sailed high & wide. But he wasn't a liability out there. Ream either.

3-2 flattered Senegal. We got Puli going. Pepi looked great. We dominated for LONG stretches. Hit the post. Had goals disallowed. Dest, Weah, Wes, Tillman, and Balogun all involved and dangerous. Zendejas, too. Freeman looked great. It could have easily been 5 or 6. Against a team that is, by all metrics, slightly better than we are. After Belgium and Portugal and with Germany looming, we needed a win. And we got one.

If, after that, your overall impression is doom and gloom or your comments are mostly negative? You have lost the plot. You cannot see the forest for the trees. IMHO.

 

I cannot get behind this.

Donovan and Dempsey for sure. Then McBride and Wynalda. And Pulisic.

After that? You have Altidore. Pre car crash Charlie Davies was really something. As was the beief shining moment of Clint Mathis. Earnie Stewart was #3 in the Dutch League in scoring one year (some bums named Van Nistelrooy & Romario were ajead of him). Joe Max-Moore & Josh Wolff weren't chopped liver. Bert Patenaude has the first World Cup hat trick. Even Cobi Jones & Wegerle & Bruce Murray.

We looked good yesterday. But can we pump the brakes a bit? Neither Pepi nor Balogun has ever scored a World Cup goal, nor won a WC game nor even played for us at a World Cup. Neither player has scored in, won, or even played in a Gold Cup with the USA.

Balogun started & scored in the 2023 Nations League win over Canada. Pepi played in it. Balogun started and Pepi scored in the SF win over Mexico. The 4 red McKinnie ripped shirt game.

Both were on the squad in the 2024 Finals, Balo started the SF amd Pepi came on as a sub where we got a 90+6 OG equalizer & beat Jamaica in AET. Wright started the final vs Mexico & scored. Balo came on a sub. Pepi did not play.

Neither were a part of the 2025 NL debacle, much to their credit.

It is pretty thin for best US strikers ever talk, in my view. Or even most talented.

If you are talking CF only it narrows the field a bit. But not by a lot. Neither guy is a top 10 goals or assists.