Sunderland are back in action against fellow Premier League side Liverpool on Saturday night
Sunderland step up their pre-season campaign on Saturday night when they face Liverpool in Nashville (11pm kick off BST).
The game marks Andoni Iraola's first in charge of Liverpool since replacing Arne Slot earlier this summer, and like Régis Le Bris he is managing a squad heavily disrupted by this summer's World Cup.
Here we run you through the team news from both camps and outline what the two sides will likely look like...
The Sunderland team news
Sunderland will be bolstered on the trip by the returns of Dan Ballard and Romaine Mundle, who have recovered from respective ankle and hamstring surgeries and been training with the group. Le Bris has confirmed that Ballard will get game time on this trip, so could be involved as soon as tomorrow. Wilson Isidor is also set to return having linked up with his team mates in Nashville after his post World-Cup break.
The rest of Sunderland's World Cup cohort remain absent for the time being, with those knocked out in the round of 32 joining the tour after Saturday's game and those who progressed further returning to the Academy of Light in August. The big absentee for this game from a Sunderland perspective is Jocelin Ta Bi, who saw his visa application for the tour rejected. The winger was set for a big role across these three games but has instead had to remain on Wearside - Sunderland have appealed the decision and are hopeful of a resolution but he is almost certain to be absent for this one.
As Le Bris carefully builds the game time of his senior players, it's once again expected that there will be wholesale changes at some stage in the game with a predominantly academy XI entering the fray.
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The Liverpool team news
Like Sunderland, the World Cup means that Liverpool have begun pre-season with a smaller group of senior players and a significant academy cohort.
Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike and Giovanni Leoni are the long-term injury absentees and while Stefan Bajcetic and Wataru Endo are close to returning to fitness, this game is expected to come too soon for them to feature.
Ryan Gravenberch, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz will link up with the squad after this game following their World Cup involvement, with Alisson Becker, Cody Gakpo and Virgil van Dijk beginning their pre-season back in Liverpool. Alexis Mac Allister and Victor Munoz will now enjoy a break having reached the World Cup final with their respective nations.
Defender Jérémy Jacquet could make his first Liverpool appearance having agreed to join from Rennes in February.
The Liverpool squad for US tour and Sunderland clash: Gomez, Endo, Jacquet, Kerkez, Szoboszlai, Bradley, Chiesa, Leoni, Jones, Elliott, Tsimikas, Ekitike, Mamardashvili, Woodman, Frimpong, Abe, Nyoni, Bajcetic, Chambers, Ramsay, Scanlon, McConnell, Jaros, Koumas, Morrison, Ngumoha, W. Wright, Hall, Sonni-Lambie, Ndukwe, Davies.