Promoting hoardings dotted round Sunderland are adorned with inviting pictures of lengthy, sandy seashores and invite guests to embark on adventures in “our metropolis by the ocean”. It's all a part of an £80m mission designed to reinvent and regenerate the post-industrial riverside space across the Stadium of Mild, however West Ham had evidently not bargained for this rejuvenation to increase to the soccer workforce.
Because the second half unfolded an exhilarating afternoon that exceeded the wildest goals of even probably the most optimistic Sunderland followers grew to become not a lot an journey as an ordeal by the North Sea for West Ham. Proper from the beginning a Sunderland beginning XI that includes seven debut-making summer time signings and solely three survivors of Might's playoff remaining triumph seemed fast, agile and intensely nimble footed.
When Habib Diarra, the membership document £30m midfielder from Strasbourg, confirmed off a powerful change of first-half tempo as he executed a slick one-two with Eliezer Mayenda, the center of West Ham's defence was pierced and Diarra had solely Mads Hermansen to beat.
Though West Ham's £20m goalkeeping purchase from Leicester rescued the state of affairs with a good save, it was clear the hosts would show no pushovers. And notably not with Diarra providing fleet-footed excellence and Switzerland's Granit Xhaka, just lately arrived from Bayer Leverkusen, performing a quasi-sweeping function on the base of midfield.
Not that the guests have been precisely out of issues at that stage. For some time within the first half, they compelled Sunderland into counterattacking mode and it took a sliding, eleventh hour, clearance on Dan Ballard's half to stop El Hadji Malick Diouf capturing West Ham forward as Jarrod Bowen proved a rising irritant to Sunderland's backline.
One in every of soccer's little mysteries revolves across the failure of one of many so-called “prime six” golf equipment to understand exactly how good Bowen is and snap him up. Goodness is aware of the place West Ham could be with out him.
Even so, Régis Le Bris may very well be quietly happy that Robin Roefs, Sunderland's new Netherlands Beneath-21 goalkeeper who was most popular to the playoff hero Anthony Patterson in objective, had not been over exerted.
From his vantage level within the administrators' field Nordi Mukiele should have felt reassured he was making the precise selection in swapping Paris Saint-Germain for Sunderland. That transfer is poised to be confirmed imminently with the full-back changing into signing No 12 of this busiest of shut seasons on Wearside.
Simon Adingra nearly made a scoring begin to life in pink and white stripes after arriving from Brighton however, as an alternative, despatched a shot swerving and dipping simply vast. Shortly afterwards Diarra nearly topped a memorable debut with a objective but lifted his left-foot shot only a fraction to excessive.
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It didn't matter as Omar Alderete, the Paraguay centre-half, one other making his debut, hooked a cross into the world and Mayenda, a scorer at Wembley in Might, backed into his marker earlier than in some way managing to contort his physique right into a place from the place he headed Sunderland into the lead.
Because the roof threatened to return off, West Ham discovered themselves up in opposition to not merely the bodily barrier introduced by Alderete and pals however a formidable wall of noise.
Graham Potter's response was to liberate Callum Wilson from his bench and the previous Newcastle striker trotted on to a cacophony of boos. Earlier than Wilson might get his bearings West Ham have been two down, the unattended Ballard having guided an amazing header past Hermansen after assembly Adingra's deep cross. Nearly as good as the primary two Sunderland objectives have been, they have been facilitated by dreadful visiting defending.
Hermansen won't need to watch replays of the third, curled in impressively by the substitute Wilson Isidor who, after assembly a Xhaka go, ran on the again line earlier than unleashing an effort that the goalkeeper touched however couldn't maintain.
