LONDON – In a warm-up fixture that failed to deliver the positive momentum England was hoping for ahead of this summer’s World Cup, head coach Thomas Tuchel is adamant that his side’s disappointing 1-0 defeat to Japan at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday will not impact the team’s performance in the upcoming tournament.
The result marked a second consecutive underwhelming outing for England under Tuchel, following a hard-fought draw with Uruguay on the same pitch just four days prior. The only goal of the game against Japan came from Brighton winger Kaoru Mitoma in the first half, a score that would ultimately decide the tie.
Tuchel has offered context for the two underwhelming results, noting he fielded experimental lineups for both pre-tournament friendlies. Several of England’s most important regular starters – including captain Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka – missed the fixtures due to minor injury concerns, forced to sit out to protect their fitness ahead of the World Cup. The German manager added that most of his squad are already carrying heavy workloads from their ongoing club seasons at this point in the calendar, leaving many fatigued ahead of the international camp.
For these reasons, Tuchel made clear that the results from this international break will not define his side ahead of the World Cup, which is being hosted in the United States this summer. “It’s just a reality if teams like Uruguay or Japan come well-drilled, with their top lineup, it’s a difficult task,” he told reporters after the match. “It was not necessary to lose the match. Unfortunately, we lost it, which is disappointing, and I hate losing, like no one else, and it will take a while to digest. But it will not affect us massively for when we arrive in the U.S.”
The defeat offered a particularly underwhelming opportunity for two of England’s attacking Premier League stars, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden, who were hoping to cement their places in Tuchel’s final World Cup squad. The pair, who have been battling to secure their spots in the 26-man group, were handed starting spots against Japan – but failed to convert their chance into a convincing performance.
Opta statistics confirm that England’s first-half display against Japan was the team’s first goalless, shot-on-target-free first half in a friendly match since 2017. With young talents like Morgan Rogers pushing for inclusion alongside established starter Jude Bellingham in attacking midfield roles, Palmer and Foden now face an anxious wait to learn if they will be on the plane for the tournament. Deployed as a false nine in the absence of Kane, Foden could not create the attacking threat Tuchel’s side needed.
“I’m not the biggest fan of talking about individuals, but, of course if we put offensive players on the pitch, we demand offensive actions, we demand creativity, we demand shots, we demand assists, and we clearly didn’t have enough. We could not create,” Tuchel said. “We made it difficult for us to find them in the half-spaces. We struggled to open up these spaces. We played against the deep 5-4-1. We didn’t use the width of the field enough to make the difference, and our offensive players struggled to make the difference.”
Tuchel openly acknowledged that the absence of captain Harry Kane had a noticeable impact on the side’s performance. “No team in the world has the same threat (without Kane),” he said. “It’s just normal. On top of it, Harry dropped out so we lost not only him as a player, but we lost him as a personality. It’s always a bit disruptive if the captain leaves the last training after 15 minutes and is out of the squad. We can win games without Harry. We will win without Harry. We have won without Harry, but it’s easier to win matches with Harry, of course.”
Ahead of the World Cup, other top contenders also played out their final pre-tournament friendlies on the same day. Euro 2024 champions Spain were held to a goalless draw by Egypt, while another tournament favorite, the Netherlands, settled for a 1-1 home draw against Ecuador. The Dutch were forced to play more than 78 minutes with 10 men after right back Denzel Dumfries received a red card in the 12th minute of the fixture.