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

I think we can beat elite teams but I wonder if we can make the right adjustments in how to play against them.

 

I'm mostly aired my grievances about the match (that's my style in general, to pick out the areas of improvement), but I do want to say that it was an overall very good match, and it was actually enjoyable to watch. We had quite of few moment of real quality out there. I'm not sure how much of it had to do with it being a friendly (I don't put much stock into them good or bad), but hopefully that attacking momentum carries over into the Cup and we clean up some of the defense.

 

Whom among Paraguay, Australia or Turkey are better than Senegal? The only one I could see making an argument for is Turkey. But I also take some solace in the fact that both of Senegal's goals were the direct result of turnovers on our part. The ARob turnover was beyond midfield, and I would think if the game were actually meaningful, ARob would have hacked the guy down and taken a yellow but in a friendly where the main goal is not getting hurt, he seemed to decide to not attempt to take the guy down. The 2nd goal was a complete F up on MRob's part and I want to believe he won't play much if at all in the World Cup, assuming Richards is health enough to play meaningful minutes.

 

Agree Luna > Zendejas

Also, as this is the tail end of the roster selection, I'd prefer Tessmann to either of Zendejas or Luna.

Different types of players, of course, but I'm worried about the center of our midfield against Australia. They were incredibly physical in their friendly and will be even more so when it's all on the line in game 2. Would love to have Tessmann to partner Adams for that one. That's a game we need to win.

 

I'd like more midfield bodies but it's worth noting that while Tanner is big, dude is pretty soft as a player.

I think we just put Tillman or McKennie back there and it's a better option.

 

............Aiden Morris has pretty decent levels of tenacity. A bit more on the finesse side IMO but we keep looking at midfield as the bodies to cut when it should have been Miles Robinson.

And for record, Im taking Luna over Zendejas every single damn time.

 

The happy was Dest and Freeman back there, holy hell is that going to be exciting for the next cycle or two, both are strikers were constantly a threat, Pulisic was back to being Pulisic, McKennie was dangerous, we survived a bad game from Adams, and a howler, and a bad game from Robinson, Tillman was awesome, further integrating into the team w/the bulk of the full squad here, the problems are still the problems (CB's, GK, depth at the 6), but the positives were really, really positive yesterday. Otoh, I think we were great, but I also clearly think Senegal wasn't super committed and apparently multiple back line starters out, but I think it's good that they got positive momentum going, the last thing we needed was to get smashed by Belgium, Portugal, Senegal and Germany, and then game on lol....staunched the bleeding, at least for a week.

 

Don't really like supporting FanDuel, but it is interesting they got Bob, Bruce, and Gregg to do a 10 part coach corners show through The World Cup

 

True Senegal is ranked higher than all 3 in both FIFA and ELO. I just don’t put much stock in those rankings and more think in general terms: Senegal, Turkey, Paraguay, and Australia are all in the broad group of teams that usually make the WC and when they do, get to the R16 or possibly R8, but aren’t in the elite group of teams that threaten to win it all. Plus that Senegal team was different in many respects (formation, goalie, some outfield players) than the one that (might have?) won the ACN.

On this I fully agree. The second goal was the fault of two players who were marginal to participate before the game, and after that will likely be longshots to take the field. That goal doesn’t worry me. Our tendency to turn the ball over and leave space, while not egregious, does.

 

Thanks! I never would have seen this.

I make a lot of comments at Jurgen's expense, but I wish they would have gotten him as well. He always has an interesting POV.

 

Was just rewatching some of the game and in the 28th minute on the counter Freeman is taking a shot from just outside the 18. How crazy is it that we have CB/RB who is doing that? Dude is out front with the attackers and thinks, 'Hell yeah I'll shoot from here."

 

I have those teams in different slots. {Peak Senegal is damn good, the '02 squad was a top 5-8 team at that World Cup, and I'd call Senegal's 2018-2026 iteration a top 20 side in the world with 10th-12th overall upside. I don't see either Paraguay or Australia having that ceiling, period, peak Paraguay was basically a 13th-18th side that I didn't envision as capable of making any WC QF's barring a colossally easy path, same with Australia. Turkey's reached exceptional heights in 2002, and at Euro '08, where they were tied in the semifinals with Germany in the 88th minute before falling, and if you haven't seen it before, watching the final minutes of their Quarterfinal against Croatia in Euro '08 will be one of the most amazing, insane things you've ever seen in soccer, probably the single most amazing thing you've ever seen, particularly in terms of what happened between the 119th minute of extra time, and the whistle blown to end extra time. If you haven't seen it, here you go....

EURO 2008 highlights: Turkey beat Croatia on penalties


Anyway, yeah, Senegal and Turkey, at max capacity are semifinalists in WC caliber, that good, Paraguay and Australia just aren't. They are teams that can make round of 16's, but that's pretty much a wrap for both of them (though both have been tough outs when they made it that far, Italy notably having to dive their way to a victory late on against Australia at WC '06)......

But maybe that's just me, I definitely have sides I think with a little luck, can make QF and a miracle SF run w/the right path whether they've done it before, or they haven't, Japan, Colombia, Uruguay, South Korea, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon back in 1990, USA, Mexico etc....Paraguay and Australia are simply not in that slot for me, they are teams that are tough outs and can make Rounds of 16's, but generally speaking, for now anyway, just don't have top 8-12 in the world in their level (I think Paraguay's been close once or twice, and Australia in '06 as well, but even at max, they were still a bit behind the top capacity of the Japan's, Colombia's, Senegal's, Ivory Coasts, Nigeria's and Mexico's of the world etc). So I guess I generally see a clear tier defense between dark horse underdog sides sitting typically in that 10-30 area, and underdog sides typically in the 20-50 area like Australia and Paraguay.

 

Henry Bushnell had a piece in the Athletic that eloquently expresses the point I failed to get across with my post (clebratory adult beverages may have contributed somewhat).

Even more crucial than winning, USMNT showcases its World Cup upside

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7322999/2026/06/01/usmnt-world-cup-potential-ceiling-pochettino/

It's paywalled, of course, but here are some apt snippets:

For most of 20 months, Mauricio Pochettino’s U.S. men’s national team had been more of an idea than a fully formed unit.

Players had cycled in and out, intensity had fluctuated, attacking rotations had evolved, starting formations had shifted. It was difficult to envision what, exactly, this USMNT would look like at the 2026 World Cup, in spotlights this summer.

On Sunday, we saw it.

...We saw incisive runs and overloads. We saw probing possession and unpredictable movement. We saw talent unlocked.

We saw mistakes, sure, but mostly from players who won’t be in the U.S. starting lineup on June 12.

We saw a 3-2 win over Senegal that was evidence of the USMNT’s upside.


...You don’t have to squint. You don’t have to contort your mind or change the system. You can see how the team that played in Sunday’s first half, with the exact same tactical approach but full-strength personnel, can be even more potent.

 

Just a hunch and intuition based on reporting, and what we've heard, but Klinsy has always seemed, as a coach, to be a great, great idea man, but a terrible organizer and implementer of ideas, and a terrible editor of the bad ones. He's like half a great coach, and then the other half of him isn't average, it's apocalyptically bad, which is why he's just not been successful based on his own merits....so this sort of thing would be perfect for him, as he could probably underline all sorts of interesting angles.

 

Kinda ticky tack but Paraguay did make the WC QF in 2010. Overall though point taken that Turkey and Senegal may be an echelon above Australia and Paraguay. One wild card is current form. We’re both reasoning from examples back as far as two decades and those teams, while great, aren’t relevant now. But hey if Senegal is even better than most of our group foes, that’s great news and I welcome it.

 

Thanks for the correction.....Senegal was pretty spectacular in '02, and this iteration has these accomplishments:

AFCON '17: Knocked out in QF's by eventual champ Cameroon on penalties.

WC '18 Qualifying: Went undefeated in group with Burkina Faso, South Africa, and Cape Verde. Direct Ticket.

AFCON '19: Lost to Algeria in Final (Egypt hosted, so Algeria was kind of the home team)

AFCON '21: Champ

WCQ '22: Qualify over Egypt in playoff. Survive Group of VERY GOOD w/Ecuador and Netherlands, gave England a scare.

AFCON '23: Knocked out in R16's by eventual tourney winner Ivory Coast, went undefeated, losing R16 match on penalties.


AFCON '25 Champ over Morocco....

WCQ '26 beating out top 10-15 CAF side Burkina Faso for the direct ticket....


So this is clearly a golden generation, and maybe a new standard since they developed it a good 9-10 years ago and have been going strong since, they are the Ghana/Ivory Coast ('05-'15) of the '17-'26 era to this point, and probably at that level if not a bit better.

Side note worthy of mention, one of Ivory Coast or Ghana or both made the semis in six of seven AFCON Finals between 2006 and 2017. That's a Golden Generation!

 

Interesting side note, that great multicoach interview makes reference to a Poch quote on Berhalter that was somewhat difficult to determine (is this fluff, or a sign of how much of a fan he is, particularly post Big Balls comment re: Luna) and it is important to note that he LOVES that Berhalter mentality....so needless as it is to say, definitely seems like Seb is going to see some minutes.

 

Nice, feel good game leading into the WC. The US came out with energy and commitment while Senegal looked like they were playing a practice game. Great to see Pulisic get a goal and assist, but even more, I was happy to see his burst which seemed to be missing in the past 6-9 months. US showed their strength is in attack and weakness in defense (although Turner had a good game).

Nice to see depth up front and midfield, not so much in defense. My MOTM was Pepi who really created the first two goals with great passes. Also, his pressure and holding play caused problems for Senegal. While Balogun still deserves to start, I would start Pepi and let him work the defense and bring in Balogun with his fresh legs and quickness to slice through the final third.

Although it didn't work for Senegal, I would still play low block and counterattack the USMNT. Plus, foul Pulisic early to get him frustrated.

Still not comfortable with Mark McKenzie in the center of a 3 back. While it wasn't bad, I always get the feeling that he could have done better. Similar, Reyna wasn't bad, but didn't really do anything.

 

Almost as crazy as a CB breaking out a bicycle kick and nearly scoring off it in a World Cup. How crazy would that be?

 

He’ll start Berhalter every game, I think. It sounds crazy but looking at how he praises Berhalter like that. Sometimes the best talented 11 won’t be playing together.

 

And how different is how he talks about Berhalter from how he talked about Luna . . .

 

While I would love that if only to piss off the Eurosnobs, I don't think that quote means much re: minutes. He called Roldan the "perfect player" but I don't see him starting every game at this World Cup. I do back him and Roldan to start at least once though, which is more than just about every pundit is expecting.

 

About as crazy as the other CB scoring top bins in that same match but having it disallowed for an incorrect offside and then booking him for it (ok, that last bit doesnt sound crazy considering our history of goals being disallowed)

4:00 minute mark

 

Miles did not have a great match but neither did Ream, Roldan or Berhalter.

If Richards is not 100% for the first couple of WC matches then we are really light at CB who can defend and score headers. Miles is the best CB on the roster in the air with Trusty 2nd.

 

Spot-on with the last statement.

What a nightmare for Miles R. and Brady on that second Senegalese goal! Not much time for the subs to get into the flow of the match, but we MUST focus on avoiding that kind of chaos in our defensive end. Our first two goals were superbly executed...very encouraging.