Key events
57 mins: England win a couple of corners, the second ends with Konsa heading wide from beyond the far post.
55 mins: Japan meanwhile have got into England’s penalty area twice more since Doan forced a save from Pickford, but one move ended with a cross towards Ueda that was headed clear, and another with a shot from the edge of the area that was blocked.
53 mins: England may consider introducing a striker at some stage. Perhaps a bit of Bowen might bring some extra dynamism. England’s front three have had lots of nice touches in the kind of areas where nice touches are easy.
50 mins: Save! A high, long crossfield pass finds Doan, whose first touch takes him beyond Guehi and into the penalty area. But instead of crossing he tries to beat Pickford at the near post, and can’t.
49 mins: Palmer sends the ball curling and dipping into Suzuki’s gloves.
48 mins: England have a corner. Harry Kane is pictured in the stands, looking neither agonised nor glum.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! Ito gets the ball re-rolling.
The players are on their way back out. England are not yet using any of their 11 – eleven – available substitutions. “I’ve always generally hated and ignored international friendlies, but this weekend has been a nice reality check,” writes Dan Christmas. “I genuinely thought we had a chance at the World Cup, but it’s nice/depressing to be reminded we have mostly mediocre players and even the good ones in mediocre form.”
At this point, this can probably be classed as an encouraging humiliation. England have never previously lost to a team from Asia. “Losing at home to Japan doesn’t look great but some of England’s first-time passes and long passes have been really very good,” writes Dean Kinsella. “This is a young team and after the old guard contest this summer’s competition in the Americas this lot will be the future. I think the future looks bright.”
Half time: England 0-1 Japan
45+2 mins: And we have had half of the time! It’s been quite a good time, really, but Japan are extremely well organised and England can’t find a way through them.
45+1 mins: There’s only going to be one minute of stoppage time, unless it’s full of bonus stoppages.
43 mins: The corner ends up in Pickford’s hands and he attempts a quick, long clearance to Rogers. It’s intercepted, but England end up with a throw-in on halfway which isn’t a bad result. Pickford is bloody good at that, and is a serious and often underused counter-attacking weapon.
42 mins: Now Japan hit the bar! Ueda times his run perfectly and is released into the area by an excellent through-ball, but he can’t find the net. Pickford presumably got in the way, as a corner has been signalled.
41 mins: England have had 70% of possession, but 0% of the shots on target. There have only been one of those, Anderson’s curler having presumably been adjudged to be missing.
38 mins: England just can’t find a way through the blue wall. A long spell of possession on the edge of Japan’s area is ended when Mainoo hits a pass to Foden that’s too hard, too high, and from too close for him to possibly control.
36 mins: A lovely dinked cross from O’Reilly towards the far post, but it loops towards the head of Foden, who is outjumped by Kamada.
34 mins: England hit the bar! It starts with a great long pass from Pickford to Gordon, and a great first-touch from Gordon to bring it under control. Moments later it’s with Anderson, with space just outside the area to line up a shot, and his dipping, curling effort is fingertipped onto the bar by Suzuki.
32 mins: England struggling a little at present, but Sano gives them a chance to reset by walloping a 30-yarder into the stands.
29 mins: England attack down the right, but the ball ends up with White, and with nine Japan outfield players in the penalty area, and that’s way too many for him to deal with.
27 mins: A lovely touch from Mainoo to ease away from, I think, Ritsu Doan, shifting the ball from right foot to left and from left into space. Nothing comes of it, but that doesn’t make it any less lovely.
25 mins: England were basically shredded by two passes there. Nakamura had all sorts of space on the left and carried the ball easily to the edge of the penalty area before passing infield to Mitoma, whose sidefooted finish was beautifully calm and classy.
24 mins: And with that the players take a drinks break, and Tuchel has a lot to say to his players while they do so.
GOAL! England 0-1 Japan (Mitoma, 23 mins)
And now they’re very pleased! A lovely goal on the counter-attack, with Mitoma nicking the ball off Palmer and eventually finishing the move he started.
22 mins: Having said that, I expect Japan are also pretty pleased. They have not conceded a chance and continue to make life difficult for their opponents.
17 mins: I’m so scarred by years of watching England sides made up of the best players from the best Premier League teams play like they have never previously come across a football, that I get overwhelmed by the sight of England players successfully passing to each other. I am so easy to please. Having said that, I am being pleased.
16 mins: A third of the way through the first half, or a sixth of the way through the match, if you will, and after a poor first few minutes England have been dominant.
13 mins: The corner comes in and leads to extended pinball madness. Guehi is one of several players to have efforts on goal and he was presumably quite happy with it, because he has his head in his hands when it hits a blue shirt.
12 mins: Palmer sends the ball in, it flicks off Anderson, and Rogers’ shot hits a defender. Then moments later a great pass releases White on the right, and his low centre is cleared for a corner.
11 mins: Watanabe clips Foden’s ankle, and Foden executes a couple of rolls to make sure of the free-kick, out on the left.
9 mins: Japan’s press is, as advertised, nightmarishly incessant. England are moving the ball around it quite well, though, and then their own press comes good and Palmer runs to the edge of the area, but his pass is poor and runs out of play before Rogers can reach it.
6 mins: Now England do a thing: Gordon and Foden exchange smart passes and the Newcastle man gets to the byline, but his cross hits a defender then clips Gordon on its way out of play. Goal kick.
5 mins: Now Ito is played in on the right side of the area, with Mitoma completely on his own in the middle, but Pickford comes out to cut off the forward’s options.
3 mins: The first proper attack comes from Japan, with Ben White being beaten with humbling ease on England’s right but the cross bounces out of play.
2 mins: Early evidence of Japan’s relentless pressing, which has so far twice pushed England into playing the ball gradually backwards as far as Pickford, and forced the goalkeeper to kick long.
1 min: Peeeeep! England kick off!
The players are on their way out! Action imminent, after some anthems and handshakes and stuff.
Tommy Tuchel chats with ITV:
double quotation mark We need a good performance because we play against a good opponent, so we need to be very smart, to get out press right. Japan plays relentless, so they will not let us breathe. We need a complete performance to be able to win.
He has an explanation for Harry Kane’s absence
double quotation mark A minor injury from basically out of nothing. He had to step out of training yesterday, no chance of being involved today.
Tuchel is asked if this injury (which has just been described as “minor”) is serious?
double quotation mark It’s serious enough to not be able to play. We have to wait for further assessment. Phil Foden plays at nine. They play a back three so it’s not a bad thing to drop a little bit and ask the question to the back three: who steps out, who does not step out. I encouraged them to be adventurous, to put some spark on the field and have decisive actions.
For those who harbour any feelings about Fifa’s world rankings except confusion or disdain, Japan are currently ranked 18th in the world, making them the best team in Asia. England are only the third-best team in their continent, but the fourth-best team in the world. Spain, currently world No 1, play Egypt at 8pm. France, at No 2, beat Colombia 3-1 in Maryland a little earlier.
Find someone who looks at you the way Phil Foden looks at Jordan Pickford.
The teams!
The lineups are in and they look like this. Marc Guehi becomes the 129th England captain:
England: Pickford, White, Konsa, Guehi, O’Reilly, Anderson, Mainoo, Palmer, Rogers, Foden, Gordon. Subs: Trafford, Steele, Henderson, Maguire, Bellingham, Rashford, Burn, Solanke, Barnes, Bowen, Garner, Spence, Livramento, Hall.
Japan: Suzuki, J Ito, Watanabe, Taniguchi, Nakamura, Sano, Kamada, Doan, Mitoma, H Ito, Ueda. Subs: Hayakawa, Osaka, Sugawara, Seko, Fujita, Y Suzuki, Machino, Maeda, Hashioka, Tanaka, Ogawa, J Suzuki.
Preamble
Hello world! Shall we see what footballing spaghetti sticks when Thomas Tuchel flings it at the Wembley wall this evening? It might not be the easiest possible sell, but watching spaghetti stick can only be more entertaining than the watching-paint-dry misery reported by those who – unlike, I might as well admit it now, myself – endured Friday’s 1-1 draw against Uruguay. Since then England’s players have gone from drawing to withdrawing, with John Stones and, somewhat suspiciously, a load of Arsenal players dropping out of the squad citing something or other. This is England’s last outing before June, when they squeeze in a couple of friendlies before the World Cup gets under way, and feels like it should be more important than it feels like England feel like it is. But just maybe, hopefully, it will come in time, and perhaps only a few hours, to feel important. And so, here we are. Welcome!
