CHARLOTTE — Christian Pulisic scored a goal for the United States men's national team in a friendly match against Senegal on May 31, 2026, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Pulisic also assisted on the United States' first goal of the match.
Pulisic’s goal came after a pass from Ricardo Pepi, which he received before going around Senegal goalkeeper Mory Diaw to finish. Earlier in the match, Pulisic played a low cross that Sergino Dest tapped in for the opening goal. The goal was Pulisic’s first for the U.S. national team since November 2024 and his first overall since December 2025. He had gone eight U.S. matches without scoring prior to the Senegal friendly.
“No matter how bad things are, I like to look at the positive light. I’ve had this happen before in my career. It’s difficult times. Sometimes one will bounce off your knee and go in. It seems like everything will go in after that. So that’s just the way things work. I feel pretty confident.” Pulisic said.
Sadio Mané scored for Senegal just before halftime. Ricardo Pepi started as the striker for the United States over Folarin Balogun in the match.
“Of course, any time you get a good result it gives you a bit of confidence. We want to start the game strong and come out with a good result. I’m sure we’re gonna test a couple things, move some guys around. Maybe it won’t look exactly as it would in [World Cup] games, but we want to use this to try to play, to put on a good performance, to get a good result.” Pulisic added.
Christian Pulisic has 32 goals in 84 international appearances for the United States. He scored the only goal in the U.S. 1-0 win over Iran at the 2022 World Cup, advancing the team to the round of 16. He is the only player on the 2026 U.S. World Cup roster who was also on the team that lost to Trinidad and Tobago in 2017.