Coach Andoni Iraola celebrated a successful debut with Liverpool FC; the Reds won their first match of the U.S. tour against Premier League rival AFC Sunderland. There were positive aspects, but also a downside.
Ten minutes into the match at GEODIS Park in Nashville—marking Andoni Iraola’s debut on the Liverpool FC bench—the new coach had to make his first substitution. An early substitution was necessary because Joe Gomez went down, required extended treatment, and was unable to continue playing due to a muscle injury. The experienced defender—a Champions League winner and two-time league champion with the Reds—left the field after having led his club onto the pitch as captain.
“The worst news, really, was Joe’s injury right at the start,” explained Iraola, who was already without new signing Jeremy Jacquet in defense. “As for Jeremy, we decided to take it slow with him,” Iraola explained. “He hasn’t been able to play for many months due to a shoulder injury.” The outlook for Jacquet is nevertheless different from that of Gomez, who—due to injuries—played only nine league games in the 2024–25 season and just 21 in 2025–26, out of a total of 170 matches since the summer of 2015. That’s because Jacquet “will likely play in the final game of this U.S. tour and then have time to get some playing minutes,” said the LFC coach.
Liverpool quickly recovered from the captain’s absence; Morisson skillfully curled the ball into the left corner of the net from just inside the right side of the penalty area. The AFC’s response—powerful! Enzo Le Fee hammered the ball into the right corner (28th minute), Timur Tuterov finished off a strong pass from Proctor shortly after halftime to make it 2–1 for Sunderland. Dominik Szoboszlai, who came on at halftime and immediately took over the captain’s armband, took a risky shot at a ball that had been cleared too short and sent it unerringly into the left corner from 20 meters (56′). Federico Chiesa (72′) from a tight angle and Lewis Koumas, who finished off a pass from Szoboszlai (85′), ensured that Iraloa could celebrate a successful debut with a 4–2 victory.
Wirtz and his trio are already waiting in Chicago
“A good starting point for further improvements,” said the coach. After all, “the legs were heavy” because “the players have been training hard. So we were lacking a bit of freshness.” And we were also missing a few players who will rejoin the team in the coming days. Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, and Ryan Gravenberch “are already in Chicago. They’re waiting for us,” said Iraola. “They’ll start training with us tomorrow.”
