Liverpool beat Sunderland 4-2 in a pre-season friendly at Geodis Park in Nashville on July 25, 2026, in the first match under new head coach Andoni Iraola [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. The goals for Liverpool came from Kieran Morrison, Dominik Szoboszlai, Federico Chiesa, and Lewis Koumas, while Sunderland's goals were scored by Enzo le Fee and Timur Tutierov [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
Liverpool captain and defender Joe Gomez, 29, suffered an injury and had to be substituted within the first 8-10 minutes of the match [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Iraola called Gomez's injury "probably the worst news" at the start of his reign, lamenting the early setback after a period of injury-free training. He said, "We were happy because we were going through training without losing any players. Unluckily for us, straight away we've lost Joe." [1]
Following Gomez’s injury, Liverpool fielded two 18-year-old defenders—Mor Talla Ndiaye and Ifeanyi Ndukwe—in central defense [2, 3]. Iraola described the squad as "very thin" defensively after the departure of Ibrahima Konaté and injuries to other defenders [2, 3, 6, 7]. Veteran Virgil van Dijk remained absent as he rested following the Netherlands' World Cup campaign and will join training later at Liverpool’s AXA Training Centre [2, 6, 7]. Another young center-back, Giovanni Leoni, continues individual training while recovering from an ACL injury [2, 6, 7].
Liverpool missed several other key players including Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Alisson, Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, and Victor Munoz for the match [3, 6]. New signing Jeremy Jacquet, acquired from Rennes for £55 million, was unavailable due to a shoulder injury but is expected to feature later in the US tour. Iraola said they would "take it easy" with Jacquet and that he would likely play in the final US tour game [2, 3, 6, 7].
Attendance at Geodis Park was sparse, officially recorded at 24,897 with many empty seats. Tickets ranged from $129 to $392 [3]. Before kickoff, a tribute to former player Kevin Keegan included applause and a moment of silence [3].
Iraola noted the match exposed areas to work on: "A lot of things to correct, obviously, it's the first day. You could feel the heavy legs, the players have been training. So, we lacked some freshness. But it will give us a good starting point to improve things." [7]
Liverpool’s remaining pre-season fixtures in the US include games against Wrexham, Leeds United, AS Monaco, and Como. The Premier League season opener is scheduled for August 23, 2026, away at Newcastle [1, 8, 4, 5].
