In England’s final World Cup warm-up game, a behind-closed-doors friendly with Miami FC, Liverpool FC’s Rio Ngumoha reportedly scored a breathtaking strike from distance.
The Liverpool attacker was one of five supplementary England players taken to the pre-tournament camp in Florida, and has been stealing headlines from the senior squad.
Most notably, Rio won the Man of the Match award in a friendly against New Zealand after coming on as a substitute in the second half. Admittedly, it was one of those games where nothing of note really happened, but Rio did complete the most dribbles and won the most duels on the pitch.
Ngumoha was supposed to only participate in training, but impressed Thomas Tuchel so much that he was compelled to play the teenager in the warm-up friendlies. However, despite calls for him to be given a role in the World Cup squad, because Ngumoha was not included in Tuchel’s initial 55-man squad for the tournament, he cannot be drafted in as an injury replacement.
Ngumoha will go on holiday before returning to the US next month for Liverpool’s pre-season tour, where he will link up with new head coach Andoni Iraola.