Manchester City kicked off their preseason tour in the United States with a 2-1 victory over Liga MX club Club America on Wednesday in Houston.
Kevin De Bruyne's brace gave City a hard-fought win as Pep Guardiola made new star striker Erling Haaland wait for his debut. Kalvin Phillips, Julian Alvarez and Stefan Ortega played their first game as Manchester City players
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All the goals came in the first half at the NRG Stadium. De Bruyne opened the scoring for the Premier League champions with a superb curled strike from outside the box at the half-hour mark. America leveled after forward Henry Martin beat Ortega and De Bruyne sealed the win before half-time with a clinical finish from a Riyad Mahrez assist.
Phillips, who signed for £42 million from Leeds, made his debut after coming from the bench to start the second half as a central defender.
Alvarez was in the starting lineup and showed some skills as a mobile centre-forward and a couple of good connections with De Bruyne. The Argentina striker was replaced in the 71st minute by 19-year-old Liam Delap.
Man City's next preseason match will be against Bayern Munich at the iconic Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Saturday (watch live at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN).
Haaland, who played the last three seasons with Borussia Dortmund, could make his debut with City against his former Bundesliga rivals.