Arya News - In its next-to-last test before the World Cup, the U.S. national soccer team is planning to play a May 31 friendly against Senegal in Charlotte, Yahoo Sports has learned.
In its next-to-last test before the World Cup , the U.S. national soccer team is planning to play a May 31 friendly against Senegal in Charlotte, Yahoo Sports has learned.
The date and location of the match were announced early last week. To avoid facing a team in its World Cup group, though, the U.S. Soccer Federation needed to wait until the results of the World Cup draw last Friday in Washington before proceeding with the Charlotte plans.
From Pot 2, Senegal landed in Group I with top-seeded France and Norway, plus a playoff winner (Iraq, Bolivia or Suriname) to be determined in March. Atop Group D, the United States was drawn with Australia from Pot 2.
Senegal and the United States have only a slight chance of meeting in the Round of 32.
The U.S. team has never played Senegal, which is ranked second in Africa behind 2022 World Cup semifinalist Morocco.
U.S. officials said they didn’t want to comment.
Last week, the USSF announced full details of three other World Cup tuneups : Belgium on March 25 and Portugal on March 28 in Atlanta and Germany on June 6 in Chicago. At the draw, all three were in Pot 1 and couldn’t land in the same group as the U.S. team.
Featuring numerous current and former players from Europe’s top-five leagues, Senegal is ranked No. 19 by FIFA, eight slots behind Morocco.
Known as the Lions of Teranga, Senegal is preparing for its third consecutive World Cup after group elimination in 2018 and a round-of-16 appearance in 2022. It raced through qualifying for the 2026 tournament with a 7-0-3 record and 22-3 goal differential.
U.S. games against African opponents are rare: In their 112-year history, the Americans have faced just eight of the continent’s 54 countries for a total of 19 matches, including six at FIFA tournaments. The most common foes have been Ghana (five times) and Morocco (four). The last meeting against an African foe was a 4-0 rout of Ghana in an October 2023 friendly in Nashville.