​HARRISON, NJ – JULY 30: Sebastiaan Bornauw #33 of Leeds United FC battles Brian Brobbey #9 of Sunderland AFC during the game on July 30, 2026 at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images It’s a cliché to say the most important thing about pre-season matches is to get minutes in the legs, but clichés exist for a reason.Sunderland fell 1-0 to Leeds United Thursday night (or Friday morning if you were watching in Sunderland) in Harrison, New Jersey, and other than the lone — and very ugly goal — the most interesting thing that happened in the match was who got minutes for the Black Cats.World Cup returnees Brian Brobbey, Nilson Angulo, Noah Sadiki, Habib Diarra and Simon Adingra all made their pre-season debuts in the loss, but Robin Roefs didn’t play.Sunderland started the match with an almost identical lineup to the 4-2 loss to Liverpool — Ellborg in goal, Nordi Mukiele, Dan Ballard, Luke O’Nien and Reinildo across the back, Alan Browne, Chris Rigg and Enzo Le Fée in the midfield and Trai Hume and Romaine Mundle on the wings.The lone change was up top, where Brian Brobbey made his return in place of an absent Wilson Isidor.🚨 Your Sunderland XI in New Jersey.Watch live on https://t.co/i3LbsUZUu8 📺👇— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) July 30, 2026Leeds, on the other hand, made seven changes from their 3-2 loss to Wrexham on Saturday and among the changes was the debut of Tarik Muharemovic, the Bosnian defender who was reportedly a Sunderland target but signed with Leeds for €37 million?Swedish World Cup starter Gabriel Gudmundsson also made his pre-season debut, whilst free transfer Harry Wilson and Japanese World Cup veteran Ao Tanaka made their first starts.It was Tanaka that set up the Leeds goal.Le Fée hadn’t put a foot wrong throughout the first two matches but Tanaka deflected an attempted flick into the path of Lucas Nmecha, who passed the ball in off the post from about thirty five yards as Ellborg twisted and fell trying to get back from outside the penalty area.🚨🌍 | GOAL: LUKAS NMECHA OPENS THE SCORING FOR LEEDS UNITED! WHAT A GOAL!Leeds 1-0 Sunderland. pic.twitter.com/d8zqHqnEQp— TheGoalsZone (@TheGoalsZone) July 30, 2026Ellborg barely had anything else to do in the half, making his only save in the twenty sixth minute, yet drew the ire of the fans inside Sports Illustrated Stadium several times for standing on the ball well outside the area while Leeds refused to pressure him.The most dangerous span of the game for the Black Cats came inside six minutes.In the eighteenth minute, after one of his long stretches on the ball, Ellborg found Le Fée on the right, who leapt to volley it into Brobbey’s path. Brobbey looked to have a chance to attack, but dropped it back for Le Fée, who wasn’t there.The rest of the good looks came from the left side — Mundle got into a space, but pulled a pass back t