16 Things We Learned From Newcastle Vs. Sacramento Republic

By Ross Tweddell / July 20, 2015

Georginio Wijnaldum made his debut for Newcastle United as the Magpies struggled to a 1-0 victory over Sacramento Republic on Sunday morning. The Dutchman came on in the second-half and was forced to put in a shift following left-back Massadio Haidara's red card. As is so often the case (who remembers Sammy Ameobi at Darlington and the wash-out at home to Fiorentina?), there is a never a "simple" friendly where the black and whites are concerned. This one, in the sweltering California heat, saw a mind-boggling own goal, a disallowed effort, a controversial red card, elbows, great saves, and an apoplectic Steve McClaren. James Kiffe scored an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime own-goal in the 48th minute to give United the slender victory. The defender showed shades of Alan Shearer vs Everton to send a thunderous volley past his own keeper. If the match deciding goal wasn€™t enough, unfortunately for Newcastle the game was overshadowed by the red card shown to Haidara. As the ball was played in the air across to the right, the left-back went in with his studs high and planted them into the chest of Barrera. The referee went straight for his pocket and brandished the red card. Although it was dangerous it certainly didn€™t seem intentional. Like the previous two games have, NUFC's performance told us a lot about how Steve McClaren's team will look to go about their business next season. Here's 16 things we learned from the game.