With Sunderland jetting off to the United States tomorrow, I thought it would be fun to have a look at the last starting XI we last played with in the USA. That game was a 3-1 defeat to Mexican top tier side CF Pachuca on July 17th, 2015 in Sacramento, California. It also gives us an excuse to use this brilliant photo again.
JORDAN PICKFORD
Starting in goal that day was current England number one, Pickford. This was to be the season where the Washington-born shot stopper would make his debut for the Black Cats in a senior game, but would spend most of the campaign out on loan with Preston. The following season Jordan featured over 30 times for the Lads as we were relegated, before making a British goalkeeper record transfer move to Everton for around £25 million. Since moving to the blue half of Merseyside he has played well over 200 times for the Toffees and cemented his England number one keeper status by playing at two World Cups and a Euro tournament. The now 29-year-old is currently subject to rumours of a move to Premier League giants Manchester United.
ADAM MATTHEWS
The Swansea-born Wales international was quite a rare site in red and white during his first couple of seasons on Wearside. Appearing just twice (both in 2015/16) in his first two seasons and would spend most of his time out on loan at consecutive spells with Bristol City. As we dropped into the Championship and then League One, Adam would find a lot more opportunities here and he would don a Sunderland shirt 65 times in the next two seasons. The right-back would then depart for Charlton Athletic after his contract ended, suffering relegation from the second tier in his debut season. Spending another two years with our friends from the play-offs, the Welshman now plays in Cyprus with Omonia having moved there in 2022. During his time there, he has played under Neil Lennon, and alongside Gary Hooper (formerly of Celtic) and Brandon Barker (formerly of Rangers and Hibs).
JOHN O’SHEA
The RoI international (118 caps) was almost ever-present for SAFC during his seven years in the North East. John would feature over 250 times for Sunderland in all competitions. He did leave us after we were relegated out of the Championship and would have one final season as a player at Reading. O’Shea then decided to embark on a coaching career, joining the back room staff at his final club. He would leave and become the assistant manager at his home country’s national team, before featuring alongside Alex Neil at Stoke as a first-team coach. Nowadays he can be found being the assistant manager at the RoI national team yet again, where he has been since February of this year.
WES BROWN
Another ex-Man United man in this lineup, this would be his final season for Sunderland. Brown would make the move to Blackburn the next season, spending a season there, where he was also a part of the academy setup as a coach. His final move in his career would be outside of Europe to India for Kerala Blasters. He retired in 2018, with 23 England caps (and one goal), five Premier League winners’ medals and two Champions Leagues to his name, it’s hard to argue he wasn’t a very successful professional footballer.
BILLY JONES
Jones’ first goal for Sunderland would be against Newcastle, so he’s alright in my book. He also called us a ‘massive club’, so whilst he wasn’t necessarily the best footballer on the planet he certainly wasn’t the worst player to ever play for us. Billy would stick with us through the relegation to the Championship, but the right-back would depart for Rotherham United in 2018 after we plummeted into the third tier. South Yorkshire would be his home for the next three seasons, although he would play his last games in the sport for Crewe Alexandra at a loan spell in 2021. A fitting end as this had been the club the Englishman started his career with.
LEE CATTERMOLE
A favourite on Wearside during his decade and over 250 games for us, Cattermole is also now retired. Lee would depart the club in 2019, following play-off final heartbreak, and would move to the Eredivisie with VVV-Venlo. He retired after his first campaign with the Dutch side was cut short because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Renowned for his crunching sliding tackles and his ability to attract yellow and red cards (the two are very much connected) Catts’ best moments would be against Newcastle in red and white. Booked for a foul on Janmaat after 15 seconds and standing on Jack Colback, I think it’s fair to see we’ve missed a player of his willingness to put a foot in since he’s left.
EMANUELE GIACCHERINI
The Italian midfielder would spend all of 2015-16 out on loan at Bologna before permanently leaving Wearside in 2016 for Napoli. Giaccherini spent two seasons in Naples, which included a loan spell at Chievo - making the move permanent after his loan, he retired with them in 2021. He never really adapted to the style of the Premier League, however he was clearly a good player. You don’t accidentally win two Serie A titles and feature 29 times for the Italian national team. It’s a shame it never worked out for him here, this was also due to a terrible injury record he had. In his defence the club did seem cursed at the time.
JACK RODWELL
He is of course a well-liked figure on Wearside, renowned for taking pay cuts after relegations and always being fully devoted to doing his absolute best while he was here. Rodwell did actually do the opposite to all of those things, in fact his £70,000 a week contract in the Championship and then him refusing to leave nearly bankrupted us. He left after the relegation to League One, having brief spells with Blackburn and Sheffield United. Continuing his ambition as a footballer he then made the switch to Australia with Western Sydney Wanderers and then (where he currently finds himself) Sydney FC. My condolences to all those clubs mentioned, no team deserves to have him on their books.
CONNOR WICKHAM
Once touted as a future England international, he never lived up to those early expectations. He wouldn’t feature in a competitive game for SAFC in 2015/16, leaving for Crystal Palace shortly after this friendly. Due to a serious knee injury, game time was few and far between for him during his spell in South London. The Hereford-born forward/winger did also have a brief loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday during his six years for Palace. Now somewhat of a journeyman, featuring for four clubs in brief spells most recently in his career, Preston North End, MK Dons, Forest Green Rovers and finally Cardiff City. Connor is a free agent, following the expiry of his short-term deal for the South Wales club at the end of last season.
STEVEN FLETCHER
While he was born in Shrewsbury, Fletcher has played almost 40 times for Scotland. 2015-16 would be his last run out as a Sunderland player, spending some of the season out on loan at Marseille. The Scotsman was a bit of a mixed bag here, outside of his first season with us he didn’t have a brilliant goal record but he did a lot of important work off the ball I feel. Moving to Sheffield Wednesday, Steven had four seasons with them (where he would be much more clinical), the striker then signed a deal with Stoke City. Two seasons later and he was off to Dundee United, one season after that and he finds himself a free agent at the age of 36 following his release by the Scottish side; most likely due to their relegation.
JERMAIN DEFOE
One of the most well-liked and admired players (at least during his first spell with us) in Sunderland, Defoe not only scored a lot of goals but would capture the hearts of the nation due to his friendship with Bradley Lowery. He liked a goal against the Mags as well just to cap it all off. Defoe did leave after we dropped out of the Premier League, returning to Bournemouth. After a couple of loan spells with Rangers the experienced England international (57 caps and 20 goals) joined the Glasgow club permanently. His final act in his long footballing journey as a player was to return to Sunderland. There was much excitement, there was even a special edition of the matchday programme to welcome him back, and ALS put his face front and centre of the front cover of their magazine. Alas he played seven games, was kept out of the team by Stewart and Broadhead and then decided to hang up his boots before the season even finished. The least he could have done was stay at the club and set the standard for all our young players? The he would have had a League One play-off medal and could have claimed he helped save us from that division. He now finds himself at Tottenham Hotspur where he is an u18s coach.
