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On the flight home from Chicago, as he reflects on the 4-2 loss to Leeds that ended Liverpool‘s United States tour, manager Andoni Iraola will have plenty to think about.

The first-half display was arguably the best since the Spaniard took charge, but the second was categorically their worst as they conceded four times without reply inside 25 minutes.

Iraola did make a raft of changes at the break and in the second half but that is no excuse for the way they capitulated against Daniel Farke’s side.

Their lack of squad depth and physicality was alarmingly exposed and Iraola will be concerned with the ease with which Leeds scored, albeit against an inexperienced backline that finished with Calvin Ramsay, Ifeanyi Ndukwe and Mor Talla Ndiaye.

With Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz making their return, Liverpool were excellent in the first half and it is important not to be too critical but perhaps Iraola will be glad in the long-run that he saw this second-half display, where Liverpool‘s set-piece deficiencies were evident too.

“We conceded two goals from set-pieces. We have to fix that and make sure we deal with them better,” said midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai.

The intensity Iraola demands on the training pitch was evident in the first half but seemed non-existent after the break. Senior figures like Curtis Jones and Federico Chiesa did not cover themselves in glory.

“I particularly hate this month of August because you start the competitions and you still don’t know if some of the players are going to leave and who’s going to come – there is a lot of uncertainty,” said Iraola, earlier in the week.

Iraola will meet Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Alisson Becker and new signing Victor Munoz over the coming days at the AXA Training Centre.

By then, the only first-team player he will have yet to meet will be Alexis Mac Allister, who has been granted extra time off following Argentina’s run to the World Cup final. Munoz, who did not play a minute in Spain’s successful World Cup campaign, will return earlier to aid his integration into the squad.

However, over the course of a fortnight in America, Liverpool have had no incomings. That was in part because Iraola wanted to see the squad at his disposal before making decisions.

What he saw in this defeat will play into those decisions.

Ivan Toney and Morgan Rogers were among the scorers as England recorded a comprehensive 5-1 victory over Major League Soccer side Sporting Kansas City in a practice match on Thursday.

The game, played behind closed doors at England’s Swope Soccer Village training facility, featured the players not used in Wednesday’s World Cup 4-2 win over Croatia and the squad members who did not play significant minutes in Dallas.

Toney scored a hat-trick while Aston Villa duo Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins were also on target as England ran out comfortable winners.

Jordan Henderson, Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi, Dan Burn, Kobbie Mainoo, Djed Spence and Jarell Quansah were among the players also involved in the training game.

The game was broken up into two halves of around 25 minutes each.

BBC Sport revealed on Tuesday that the Football Association had arranged the friendly to get minutes into certain players’ legs.

Having arrived back from Dallas at around 10.30pm local time on Wednesday, England players were afforded most of Thursday off.

Players were allowed to see family and friends immediately after the Group L game against Croatia, and loved ones were given access into the camp on Thursday to spend time with the team before they start preparations for next Tuesday’s game against Ghana in Boston (21:00 BST).

Captain Harry Kane and manager Thomas Tuchel were among a group of players and staff that attended a baseball game between Kansas City Royals and St Louis Cardinals later on Thursday.

Four Brazilian players and four members of their coaching staff were sent off during a dramatic encounter in Fortaleza.

Brazil were shown eight red cards during a chaotic 1-0 defeat to the United States women’s national team in a friendly in Fortaleza.

Brazilian coach Arthur Elias and three of his assistant coaches were sent off, while Bia Zaneratto and Tarciane were also dismissed. Two other players were shown red cards after the full-time whistle on Tuesday evening.

Sophia Wilson’s shot deflected off Isabela and snuck past Brazilian goalkeeper Lorena in the 63rd minute for the lone goal of the game before a crowd of more than 55,000 fans in northern Brazil. The hosts had no shots on goal, while the US had six.

Brazil manager Elias and several assistants were dismissed from the technical area during the second half.

Brazil then went down to nine in stoppage time after attacker Zaneratto was dismissed after picking up a second yellow card for pushing Emily Sonnett.

Moments later, her teammate, Tarciane, was shown a straight red for elbowing Wilson.

The chaos continued after the full-time whistle, with Brazil’s Kerolin and Ludmila both shown red cards for dissent.

It was the second of two matches in Brazil for the Americans, with the US losing 2-1 in the opener on Saturday in Sao Paulo.

Marta, a six-time FIFA World Player of the Year, was subbed into the match in the 80th minute, making her 212th appearance for Brazil.

Dudinha appeared to hurt her right knee in a collision with Sonnett in the 30th minute and was stretchered off the field in obvious pain. The 20-year-old forward, who plays for the San Diego Wave in the National Women’s Soccer League, returned to the bench in the second half on crutches.

The matches in Sao Paulo and Fortaleza were played at stadiums that will be used next June and July for the Women’s World Cup. The US will start their qualification campaign in November.

VERNON Kay has proved there’s no bad blood between him and his ex Tess Daly as he was spotted with his wedding ring ON weeks after their “friendly” split.

The former Strictly star and Radio 2 DJ announced the shock separation with a joint Instagram post earlier this month.

After 22 years of marriage, the pair have certainly remained close pals as they were seen at Pub in the Park last week, taking snaps with fans.

Following their friendly drinks with pals, Vernon, 52, was spotted wearing his wedding ring at Wembley Stadium today.

He had travelled down to watch the Bolton Wanderers batter Stockport in the League One play-off final.

Vernon’s wedding band was immediately noticeable as it flashed up on screen when he was chatting on Sky Sports News ahead of the match.

TESS’ BLESS

Tess Daly gives verdict on new Strictly hosts alongside stars who missed out

all o-kay

Tess & Vernon show they’re friendly exes as they party together after split

Meanwhile, Tess has also posed up after the split with her wedding ring still on.

She took to Instagram to share some stunning snaps of herself with fans.

And fans couldn’t help but notice the star’s ring as she held onto some scripts.

She captioned the post: “The glam before the go,” as she tagged her hair and make-up artists.

Vernon shared his appreciation for Tess as he hit the like button on her selfies.

Tess, 57, and Vernon tied the knot in 2003 and share two daughters, Phoebe, 21, and Amber, 16.

The former couple met while working as up-and-coming TV presenters for rival channels in 2001, crossing paths at a BBC Christmas party.

They married a year later, and Tess got her big break on Strictly Come Dancing, which she hosted for 21 years alongside Bruce Forsyth and later Claudia Winkleman.