USMNT versus Senegal: Meet the rightful champion of Africa

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is set to kick off on Thursday, June 11, with Mexico taking on South Africa at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City.

But before the tournament begins, all of its participants have some warming up to do — including the U.S. Men’s National Team.

The 26-man USMNT World Cup roster will play two friendly matches in the coming week as an unofficial “send-off” for the tournament. It will kick things off against Senegal in Charlotte on Sunday, May 31; it will wrap things up against Germany in Chicago on Saturday, June 6, before heading to Orange County, Calif., for its World Cup camp.

What’s Senegal’s soccer story?

The Senegalese national team — known around the world as the Lions of Teranga — is one of the finest and most consistent squads in Africa. It made its World Cup debut in 2002 against France, the defending world champion and Senegal’s former colonizer … and it won. It’s qualified for three World Cups since then: One in 2018, where it went out in the group stage after losing a frankly insane tiebreaker against Japan, one in 2022, where it went out in the Round of 16 to England, and this upcoming 2026 edition, where it is slated to perform very well indeed.

The record books will tell you that Senegal has won one African championship in 2021, but those record books are … controversial. The vast majority of the soccer world believes Senegal won the 2025/26 African championship earlier this year, too.

What happened there?

What happened is that Senegal made it to the Africa Cup of Nations final and won it. It played against Morocco on Moroccan soil, though, and that made the game’s environment spiky and difficult and aggressive. There were several tight refereeing calls that went Morocco’s way, including a late Senegal goal that was chalked off. The final straw came when Morocco was given a last-second penalty that was anything but clear and obvious.

Senegal’s players, certain that a fix was in the works, walked off the field for a short while in protest. Team leader Sadio Mané eventually got everyone back on the field, though … and it’s a good thing he did, because Morocco’s Brahim Diaz missed the penalty and the game continued into extra time. Senegal midfielder Pape Gueye, a club teammate of USMNT star Alex Freeman, scored an unlikely winner in the 94th minute to hand the title to Senegal in the most extraordinary circumstances.

Morocco, furious to have lost the final on home soil, appealed to the Confederation of African Football. It argued that Senegal leaving the field of play constituted game abandonment, even though the referee on the day had cleared it as perfectly legal. The Confederation had no legal standing to overrule the referee, but it did anyway, and updated the result of the final. It updated its record books to show that Senegal abandoned the game and handed a ceremonial 3-0 win to Morocco instead.

So who is the African champion, then?

It genuinely depends on who you ask … but Senegal was the team that got it done on the field, and Senegal is the team that remains in possession of the trophy. Here’s hoping it brings it along to the World Cup for maximum drama.