The Senegal national team has settled into its World Cup base in New Jersey and received a warm, visible welcome from expatriate supporters four days before its opening match against France on 16 June.
Around a small hundred supporters waited near security barriers outside the Lions' hotel on Friday, cheering and waving as players and staff arrived. The presence of local Senegalese grew through the morning; one longtime resident said he had cleared his schedule and come back day after day to be there.
Amadou, who has lived in New Jersey for 28 years, said he had been at the hotel since the morning and had been there the previous two days, calling himself lucky that the team had chosen the state as its base. Another supporter, Momodou, who has lived in the United States for 18 years, said he wanted to see stars such as Sadio Mané and to be part of a World Cup celebration on U.S. soil, even if his role was simply to cheer the squad on.
The arrival is timely: the 2026 FIFA World Cup began on 11 June in Mexico, and Senegal — in Group I — plays France in East Rutherford at 19h TU on 16 June. The team’s other group fixtures are against Norway on 23 June at 00 TU and Iraq on 26 June at 19h TU. This tournament is Senegal’s fourth World Cup appearance, after 2002, 2018 and 2022.
That contrast — a buoyant fan atmosphere outside the hotel and a sharp training routine inside — is already noticeable. A report from a Friday session in New Brunswick described the practice as intense enough that head coach Pape Thiaw stopped play several times to calm players after collisions. A journalist who spoke with centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly said the defender described himself as exhausted by the session’s intensity, underscoring how physical preparation is colliding with the optics of a relaxed basecamp.
The split matters because Senegal’s opener is four days away. The team’s presence in New Jersey has allowed expatriate supporters to create a home-away-from-home feel — visible at the hotel entrance — while the coaching staff pushes fitness and cohesion on the training ground. For supporters who have travelled or come out from their neighborhoods, the hotel is the practical place to see the squad up close; for the team, New Jersey is where final adjustments are being made before kick-off.
Practical details for readers: the match against France takes place in East Rutherford at 19h TU on 16 June; Senegal then faces Norway on 23 June at 00 TU and Iraq on 26 June at 19h TU. The immediate watchpoint is whether the hard training sessions leave players refreshed and sharp or, as one player described it, simply "lessivé" — exhausted — ahead of a high-profile opener against a favored French side.
What remains unsettled is straightforward and consequential: will Senegal’s intensive preparation in New Jersey translate into a team that can match France on match day, or will the physical toll of those sessions blunt the squad’s sharpness when the whistle blows? That is the question fans who lined the hotel barriers came to see answered on 16 June.
