Liverpool’s preseason trip to the United States was a mess before it even started. Weather delays. A canceled flight from Chicago. The team rolling into their Midtown hotel at noon and playing a match that same night. And then, in the 75th minute at Yankee Stadium, a 17-year-old kid named Rio Ngumoha made the whole thing worth it.
The goal wasn’t pretty. Ngumoha picked the ball up on the right, drove at a retreating Wrexham defense, and watched his shot take a deflection off Lewis Brunt before looping over former Liverpool goalkeeper Danny Ward. Lucky? Sure. But Ngumoha didn’t create that chance by accident. He came on at halftime, got shifted to the right wing instead of his usual left, kept trying to cut inside into traffic, and kept trying anyway. The deflection was fortune. The persistence wasn’t.
Liverpool’s traveling circus
The Reds were without a bunch of key guys. Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch are still shaking off their post-World Cup rest. Joe Gomez is hurt. Federico Chiesa was sick. So manager Andoni Iraola rolled with an experimental lineup. Six of his starters haven’t played a single Premier League minute. One of them, 16-year-old Joshua Abe, got his first senior start and nearly scored in the opening minutes. Harvey Elliott slid him in behind the Wrexham backline, but Abe’s first touch was heavy and Ward smothered it at his feet. Fine margins between academy hype and the real thing.
Wrexham looked sharper early, and they should have. They’ve got a Carabao Cup match against Middlesbrough coming up and they’re further along in their prep. Sam Smith and Callum Doyle both missed good first-half chances. Ifeanyi Ndukwe, all of 18, held his own in Liverpool’s back line alongside Luke Chambers, while Giorgi Mamardashvili stayed calm in goal behind a largely green defense.
Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds called this game a “punch-me moment” beforehand. The first half had more of a slap-fight energy. Neither side landed much.
Ngumoha’s moment
Iraola made four subs at the break, including Ngumoha, Kieran Morrison, Kostas Tsimikas and Curtis Jones. Liverpool had more juice after that. Harvey Elliott tested Ward from 20 yards. Dominik Szoboszlai, wearing the captain’s armband, ripped a long-range attempt that Ward saved. But Wrexham kept pushing. Nathan Broadhead forced Mamardashvili into a big save from 25 yards out. Lewis Brunt and Kieffer Moore both missed close-range chances to equalize. Wrexham walked away with nothing but a pretty competitive showing.
Ngumoha didn’t dominate the half. He didn’t beat his man every time. But he kept asking for the ball. Kept turning toward goal. Kept trying. For a teenager in a preseason friendly against a League One side, that’s what you want to see. It’s the approach, not just the result.
Iraola will take the clean sheet and the minutes for his young guys. Abe, Ndukwe, Ngumoha — they all saw real action against a grown-man team that wasn’t afraid to lean on them physically. Liverpool’s attack lacked consistent penetration and they lost the midfield battle at times. But preseason is about finding the holes before they matter.
Ngumoha’s goal was the difference. An untidy finish in a disjointed game. But he was the one willing to make something happen. That counts for something, even in July.
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