Liverpool v Borussia Dortmund: International Champions Cup – live!
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Liverpool spend most of stoppage time passing the ball in their own half.
Email me or tweet at me as you like, but I will be spending most of halftime trying to keep up with all the incoming substitutions.
45 min: Karius keeps the ball at his feet a few seconds longer than he needs to, but he still gets it away before the pressure arrives.
We’ll have two minutes of stoppage time, which is surely at least one too many.
44 min: Dortmund defender Sahin breaks up an attack from Markovic, who surely would’ve loved the opportunity to state his case for non-loan playing time.
42 min: Liverpool mix it up and go long for Origi, but Diallo has him under wraps.
The crowd is coming to life whenever Dortmund get a touch in the attacking third, which is still rare.
40 min: And finally Dortmund find space, winning the ball with a bit of force (maybe too much) and taking off down the middle. The ball goes right to Wolf, who seems undecided between acute-angle shot and pass, and Karius snares the hard shot/cross with relative ease.
39 min: Loris Karius ventures outside of the Liverpool box again to touch the ball, this time with little difficulty. Seems likely he just wanted to stave off boredom.
37 min: Dortmund simply can’t string any passes together at the moment.
The crowd remains mostly silent. Did they all come to Charlotte expecting to see Christian Pulisic? Maybe in the second half.
In case you wanted to see just how uncontested van Dijk’s uncontested header was …
34 min: It’s another promising run for Liverpool, this time up the left wing. Andy Robertson, Scotland’s answer to Roberto Carlos, is again involved as they win a corner.
31 min: Dortmund keeper Hitz, a fresh arrival from Augsburg, takes a most uncomfortable touch with his feet and then drills the ball out of play under pressure.
Divock Origi of Liverpool competes with Abdou Diallo of Borussia Dortmund. Photograph: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
29 min: The goal seems to have unsettled Dortmund. So will that challenge from Lallana, who is quite fortunate not to see yellow.
Liverpool youngster Camacho wins a corner with a dangerous ball into the box, and Dortmund’s zonal marking scheme apparently has an open zone in the middle for van Dijk to score on such an uncontested header that he hardly celebrates. The adults scoring at will against the 13-year-olds in a coaching training session I attended this morning had a more difficult time.
22 min: Liverpool are getting a considerable amount of practice playing 10v11. Finally, the ball goes out of play, and Gomez trots into the fray.
Liverpool’s Rafael Camacho in action with Borussia Dortmund’s Soren Dieckmann. Photograph: Chris Keane/Reuters
20 min: Joe Gomez is set to come on for Liverpool to replace Matip. Hurry — Dortmund have a promising spell here.
18 min: Matip is off the field and walking … to the dressing room? That bodes ill, but precautionary moves are standard fare when the calendar says “July.”
16 min: From the inbox, Maria Giachali hails the “enormous mutual respect” between these two clubs. Also, someone tells me I apparently said “Here’s are starting line up.” Or was it in someone’s Tweet?
The action has bogged down a bit. In this weather, we can’t expect full-throttle action for 90 minutes, even if most players will hit the showers at halftime.
13 min: Sort of a shot, but replay makes it look like a backpass from Van Dijk. Karius dives to collect it, which is frankly unnecessary.
11 min: A bit of pressure, and Dortmund win a corner.
As expected, it’s a sizable if subdued crowd. It’s a preseason friendly, but it’s also a rare chance to see Liverpool and Dortmund in North Carolina.
9 min: Lallana finds creative space in the Dortmund box but can’t put anything on goal.
Liverpool, incidentally, wearing some sort of purplish-bluish shirt. Perhaps their traditional red would be too easily confused with Dortmund’s yellow?
6 min: Andy Robertson on the attack, by which we mean he’s all the way to the end line and centering the ball. Can’t connect. But aside from the Karius misadventure, it’s a bright start for Liverpool.
He’s not here. Correction — Salah IS here but not playing. Photograph: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
4 min: Goalkeeping blunders at each end. Dortmund’s Marwin Hitz clears a ball that would hit the roof if the Carolina Panthers’ stadium had one. Then Liverpool’s Loris Karius comes way out and clears the ball — straight to a Dortmund player who misses the open net from 45 yards out. Karius is already second or third or fourth on the depth chart.
3 min: You’ll Never Walk Alone has finished, and the crowd immediately goes silent.
Markovic with the interception, but he runs into a yellow wall.
Kickoff in a couple more minutes.
For those who are not familiar with U.S. customs, we tend to start things five minutes after the top of the hour so TV networks can work in a few ads and some other stuff.
… is not in the starting XI for Dortmund. The young American is the subject of persistent transfer rumors, with Liverpool the most talked-about suitor in part due to the Klopp connection.
The Bundesliga site has helpfully figured out the absentees as well as those present. You could make quite a team from the absentees (new Liverpool keeper Allison, Salah, Firmino, Henderson, Alexander-Arnold, Guerreiro, Kagawa, Bürki), but we have plenty of solid players in Charlotte as well.
These two clubs also had teams in the International Champions Cup “Futures” tournament, featuring Under-14 teams. Neither advanced to the final. That’ll be Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich, currently at halftime of a 60-minute game. Dortmund won its group but lost on kicks from the mark against Bayern, while Liverpool finished second in its group behind Seattle Sounders FC.
Good afternoon/evening all …
Continuing a proud tradition of European sides visiting the New World that dates back to the early 20th century and touring sides such as Corinthians and the Pilgrims, it’s Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund, each featuring some regular players and some not-so-regular players in 87-degree weather (conversion to Celsius: pretty hot but could be worse).
Liverpool FC (@LFC)
