Rio Ngumoha fires Liverpool to pre-season victory over wrexham

Liverpool continued their positive start under new head coach Andoni Iraola with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Wrexham in a pre-season friendly at Yankee Stadium in New York on Wednesday.

Teenage forward Rio Ngumoha scored the decisive goal in the 75th minute, finishing from close range to delight a crowd of more than 42,000 supporters, the majority of whom were backing Liverpool at the iconic home of the New York Yankees and New York City FC.

The win marked Liverpool’s second consecutive pre-season success after their 4-2 victory over Sunderland in Nashville last weekend. That match was also Iraola’s first in charge since succeeding former manager Arne Slot.

However, the victory over Sunderland came at a cost, with defender Joe Gomez suffering an injury that ruled him out of Wednesday’s fixture.

Liverpool were also without summer signing Jeremy Jacquet, while World Cup participants Ryan Gravenberch, Florian Wirtz, and Alexander Isak were all absent as they continue to recover following international duty.

Speaking ahead of the match, Iraola revealed that Gravenberch, Wirtz, and Isak could return for Liverpool’s final game of their United States pre-season tour, which takes place against Leeds United at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sunday.

For Wrexham, the defeat brought an end to an encouraging run of pre-season results. The Welsh club, owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, arrived in New York on the back of impressive victories over Manchester United and Leeds United.

Managed by Phil Parkinson, Wrexham narrowly missed out on a place in the Championship play-offs on the final day of last season but continue to build momentum ahead of the new campaign.