CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If you weren’t excited about the U.S. men’s national team before, you ought to be now.

Sure, it was just a tuneup game before the World Cup starts in just under two weeks. But Sunday’s 3-2 win over Senegal in front of 57,741 at Bank of America Stadium marked a statement win — and more importantly, a genuinely convincing 90 minutes — for Mauricio Pochettino’s side against as good of opposition as it’s seen under the Argentine manager.

Facing the African champions — or, at least, the team that won it on the field — the U.S. took the initiative. They played in possession, pushed the ball up the field and looked connected.

Not just in the first half, when the USMNT’s lineup more closely resembled its best. But even in the second, after Pochettino pulled 10 of 11 starters, his side looked largely unfazed, save for one particularly brutal sequence from Miles Robinson and Chris Brady.

That dog’s breakfast of a giveaway from Robinson, combined with the misplay from Brady, who had relieved Matt Turner in goal, allowed Sadio Mané to tie the game at two and for Senegal to briefly seize the momentum after a highly encouraging first half for the U.S.

Nevertheless, and after Folarin Balogun caused two goals to be ruled out — one, his own, for offside, and one by Malik Tillman due to a 50/50 foul call on Balogun — the striker made it 3-2 off Tim Weah’s 63rd-minute cross, which stood as the winner.

“Paraguay, Uruguay [two wins in November] and today was the right attitude,” coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “The right commitment for everyone. For the 22 players that were in, plus [those] that didn’t play. That is the attitude that we try to find from Day 1.”

As much as everyone insists results in such games mean little, it’s hard to imagine this won’t be a major confidence boost for the USMNT after a March window with two disappointing losses.

“It definitely helps us,” said Christian Pulisic, whose 20th-minute goal broke a five-month scoring drought. “Just feeling a bit more relaxed, even now, and confident. That’s a really good result.”

Indeed, it wasn’t just the final score that was convincing, but how the USMNT controlled the game, particularly in the first half.

Its first goal, scored by Sergiño Dest, came on a sequence of 20 passes that ended with Dest slamming in Pulisic’s cross. Pulisic’s tally, which made it 2-0, came after a line-breaking pass from Alex Freeman to Ricardo Pepi, who found a running Pulisic in space.

The confidence with which Pulisic played was exactly what Pochettino would have wanted to see. So too was the confidence with which the Americans carried themselves as a whole.

Pepi, who started ahead of Balogun, put forth a convincing case for more playing time. So too did Turner in goal, with good shot-stopping and distribution alike.

If there was a concern here, it’s the same thing that was the USMNT’s biggest question coming into Sunday. Without Chris Richards, the back line is prone to moments where it looks too slow and too shaky.

Mané scored both of Senegal’s goals, and both came off giveaways that should never have happened, first from Antonee Robinson, then in the second half from Miles Robinson.

Granted, this aspect wasn’t helped by the aggression with which Pochettino set up. Sebastian Berhalter, nominally a defensive midfielder, was level with Pulisic and Gio Reyna in attack at points. Freeman, playing on the right side of a back three — the U.S. initially set up in a 3-4-2-1 that looked more like a 4-2-3-1 after halftime — was happy to go forward too, often leaving Mark McKenzie and Tim Ream without much support in what always looked like a risk.

The duo of Miles Robinson and Auston Trusty, which took over in the second half, wasn’t much more convincing.

“Especially in defensive transition, we’re a team that wants to play — not play in moments where we don’t need to play — playing out the back and that comes with some risk,” McKenzie said. “But being strong, that defensive transition against, especially, strong attackers and teams that can hurt you.”

That Pochettino felt comfortable at all playing so aggressively, though, and that his team largely executed, was a statement unto itself.