Lynden Jack Gooch (born December 24, 1995) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a winger or wing-back for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. He has also represented the United States men’s national soccer team, making four appearances.

Youth career

Gooch was born in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...

on December 24, 1995, son of an English father (born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

) and an Irish mother (born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

). His father is a professional soccer coach. At an early age, he joined the

U.S. Soccer Development Academy The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league features youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's mission ...

club Santa Cruz County Breakers Academy. Gooch's talent attracted the attention of several European outfits, earning him a trial and eventual spot with

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

. From the age of 10 Gooch traveled to

regularly during school holidays to train before moving to England and joining full-time at the age of 16, signing a two-year scholarship. Since joining the Sunderland U-16 side, Gooch worked his way through the U-18 and U-21 sides. Because of this, he signed a contract with the club, keeping him until 2017.

Club career

Loans and Sunderland debut

On February 27, 2015, Gooch went on loan to

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

side

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

, on a 28-day youth loan. Gooch made his professional debut soon after, playing the whole game, in a 1–0 home loss against

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

. Gooch made seven appearances and scored one goal, putting the Tynesiders ahead in a 3–1 home win against

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

and causing an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

by opponent Steve Tomassen. Gooch made his professional debut for Sunderland on August 26, 2015, in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

second round match against

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

as a substitute for

Adam Matthews Adam James Matthews (born 13 January 1992) is a Welsh footballer who plays as a right back for Omonia and for the Wales national team. Matthews has also played for Cardiff City, Celtic, Sunderland and Charlton Athletic, having had loan spel ...

in the 58th minute of a 6–3 win at the

Stadium of Light The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland A.F.C. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. ...

. On January 21, 2016, Gooch was loaned for a month to

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

. He made his debut for them two days later, playing the full 90 minutes of a goalless draw at

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

and his performance was praised by the ''

Sheffield Star ''The Star'', often known as the ''Sheffield Star'', is a daily newspaper published in Sheffield, England, from Monday to Saturday each week. Originally a broadsheet, the newspaper became a tabloid in 1993. ''The Star'', the weekly ''Sheffield ...

''. After a handful of appearances for the club, on February 24 his loan was extended till then end of the season. He returned to Sunderland on March 19, due to ankle injury that he sustained against Fleetwood Town, but continued to play through the pain for eight matches.

Sunderland first team

On April 21, 2016, Gooch signed a three-year contract with Sunderland, keeping him until 2019. On August 13, he made his Premier League debut, starting away against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in Sunderland's first match of the season, a 2–1 defeat. After making his debut, the ''

Sunderland Echo The ''Sunderland Echo'' is a daily newspaper serving the City of Sunderland, Sunderland, South Tyneside and Easington (district), East Durham areas of North East England. The newspaper was founded by Samuel Storey, Edward Backhouse, Edward Tem ...

'' commented on his performance, describing him as "Energy, fearlessness and endeavour". Gooch continued to appear in the first team despite being on the substitutes' bench on numerous occasions, before suffering an ankle injury in November that kept him out between two and three months. Though he was fit again by February 2017, he was frozen out of the team by manager

David Moyes David William Moyes ( ; born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Premier League club West Ham United. He was previously the manager of Preston North End, Everton, Manches ...

who preferred

Adnan Januzaj Adnan Januzaj (born 5 February 1995) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Spanish club Sevilla and the Belgium national team. Born and raised in Brussels, he began his career with Anderlecht before joining Manchester ...

and

Fabio Borini Fabio Borini (; born 29 March 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Turkish club Fatih Karagümrük. He started his career at Bologna, before moving to Chelsea in 2007. In 2011, Borini joined Championship side ...

in midfield, as the season ended with relegation. Gooch scored his first goal for the Black Cats on August 22, 2017 in a League Cup second round match away to

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

, the winning goal in a 2–1 victory at

Brunton Park Brunton Park is a football stadium and the home of Carlisle United. It is situated in the city of Carlisle and has a certified capacity of 17,949. The ground opened in 1909. Brunton Park's grandstand burned down in 1953 and the stadium floode ...

. He said that he had dreamt of the moment since the age of 10. A month later he recorded a first league goal, a penalty that he won himself to equalise in a 2–1 home loss to

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

. Sunderland suffered a second consecutive relegation to the

2018–19 EFL League One The 2018–19 EFL League One (referred to as the Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th season of the Football League One under its current title and the 26th season under its current league division format. Fixtures were releas ...

. On August 4, in their first game of the season, Gooch headed an added-time winner in a 2–1 home victory over

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

– the Black Cats' first opening win for eleven years. In what would have been the last season of his contract, he signed a three-year extension on December 31. Gooch scored the only goal against

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

in the

2021 EFL Trophy Final The 2021 EFL Trophy Final (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2021 Papa John's Trophy Final) was a football match that was played at Wembley Stadium. It decided the winners of the 2020–21 EFL Trophy, the 37th edition of the competition, a kn ...

on March 14, 2021. On May 21 the following year, he played the full 90 minutes at right-back as Sunderland won 2–0 against

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

in the

2022 EFL League One play-off final The 2022 EFL League One play-off Final was an association football match between Sunderland and Wycombe Wanderers on 21 May 2022 at Wembley Stadium, London. It was to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from EFL League One, the ...

, ending their four years in League One.

International career

Gooch was eligible to play for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

(due to his English father), the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

(due to Irish mother), or the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(due to

birthright citizenship ''Jus soli'' ( , , ; meaning "right of soil"), commonly referred to as birthright citizenship, is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. ''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contras ...

). After appearing once for the Republic of Ireland U18 side, Gooch switched allegiance to United States after being called up for United States U20, Gooch made his United States U20 debut on November 15, 2014, in a 1–0 win over Republic of Ireland U21. Gooch represented the United States under-20 team at the 2015 CONCACAF Championship in Jamaica, playing four games as they achieved qualification for the year's World Cup in that category. On October 2, 2016, Gooch was called up to the senior team for a pair of friendlies against

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Nine days later, he made his debut against New Zealand, replacing

Kellyn Acosta Kellyn Kai Perry-Acosta (born July 24, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the United States national team. Early life Acosta was raised in Plano, Texas. ...

for the final 31 minutes of a 1–1 draw at the

RFK Stadium Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, commonly known as RFK Stadium and originally known as District of Columbia Stadium, is a defunct multi-purpose stadium in Washington, D.C. It is located about due east of the U.S. Capitol building, near the w ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Personal life

Gooch's brother, Anthony, played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

for the

San Diego State Aztecs men's soccer The San Diego State Aztecs men's soccer team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of San Diego State University in San Diego, California, United States. The team is an associate member of the Pac-12 Conference, which is part of the Nationa ...

program and currently works for the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. Gooch has another brother, Darshan, who is a professional surfer.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honors

Sunderland *

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

; runner-up: 2018–19 *

EFL League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise tw ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gooch, Lynden 1995 births Living people American men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers American expatriate men's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in England American people of English descent American people of Irish descent Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players National League (English football) players Premier League players English Football League players Soccer players from California Sportspeople from Santa Cruz, California Men's association football midfielders