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And here’s David Hytner’s report from Wembley, with which I bid you farewell. Bye!
It is not a question that Thomas Tuchel wants to entertain at the World Cup this summer but one he had a run at here in what was supposed to be England’s grand Wembley send-off. Can the team thrive against good opposition without Harry Kane? The answer was played out across an increasingly frustrating 90 minutes. It was no.
Much more here:
Some match reports! Nick Ames was at Fadil Vokrri Stadium to see Turkey beat Kosovo:
While Jonathan Wilson was at the Strawberry Arena to witness Sweden seal a World Cup spot thanks to a late Viktor Gyokeres goal (and, er, everything else that happened in the match) against Poland.
Thomas Tuchel has a chat:
double quotation markOf course it’s painful. It hurts always to lose. I think we got punished for not a lot, for one counter-attack. But we need these matches. We need to put it into perspective. It’s not the end of the world. It’s never nice and we don’t like it. It’s not a question of false nine or normal nine, it’s a matter of performing. We can do better, but it’s a well-drilled team that we played against and we had a new formation, new players.
Tuchel is asked if England are over-reliant on Harry Kane:
double quotation markWhy would Argentina not rely on Messi or Portugal on Ronaldo? Key figures left camp and we saw that a bit. We lacked a punch in the last 20m, maybe in both matches. Today in the first half we played way too narrow. Second half we had more width, we were more dynamic on the wings, using the full-backs more, we took more risks and we made more chances but couldn’t convert.
He’s then asked if he saw evidence that the shirt does hang heavy on some players, but says “I don’t want to engage in this discussion”.
double quotation markIt’s very clear on what we want to do and how we want to play, and focus more on the doing than on the thinking and what it means and whatever. It comes with pressure, it comes with noise, playing for England. We needs to see how the players can adapt to that and we can only see if we try, and we tried.
Want more football? We’ve got more football!
Marc Guehi counsels calm:
double quotation markIt’s very easy to look at this one game. It’s been a positive campaign and it’s important we improve and stay together. It’s down to us as players to find the gaps and find a way through and we didn’t do that today. We had a lot of chances from set pieces. It’s important we stay together, we learn from this moment and move forward.
Not a great night, obviously, for England. But there are many caveats and qualifications. Key players were absent. They were playing a team with a very particular set of skills. Japan’s goal was excellent and anything but undeserved – their entire system is build to produce such moments, after all – but it’s not as if England were outclassed. The home side produced very few chances, but had Rogers lashed that late one into the roof of the net it would have saved England from the embarrassment of losing, and probably avoided a lot of criticism.
ShareFinal score: England 0-1 Japan
90+5 mins: It’s all over, England are beaten and it’s a historic victory for Japan!
90+3 mins: A late booking for Ogawa, who caught Anderson rather than the ball.
90+1 mins: Into stoppage time, and there’ll be four minutes of it, give or take.
90 mins: And a terrible miss from Rogers! This time Burn wins the header, it rebounds to Rogers and it sits up beautifully on his left foot but he lashes his volley high from eight yards!
89 mins: Again this goes to Maguire, but he’s too far out to really threaten. The clearing header goes to Hall, whose low, stinging shot is turned round the post. Another corner!
89 mins: And another corner. England haven’t worked out a reliable way of threatening the goal from open play, so they’ve settled for winning corners and hoping for the best.
86 mins: Garner’s corner dips onto Maguire’s head, but he’s too busy wrestling Watanabe to effectively aim his header. Goal kick.
86 mins: Maguire and Burn certainly increase England’s threat from set pieces, and now they’ve won another corner.
85 mins: England currently lead 8-7 on substitutions.
83 mins: And Maguire nearly scores in seconds! A corner, and the defender’s header is cleared off the line by another recent arrival, Sugawara.
83 mins: And yet more substitutions! Harry Maguire and Dan Burn replace Guehi and Konsa.
81 mins: Some more substitutions, Japan with the latest batch. Nakamura, Kamada and Ito are off, Machino, Sugawara, and Suzuki are on. I can’t let Nakamura exit proceedings without linking to this largely undiscovered gem.
79 mins: Rashford’s was apparently England’s first shot on target, according to ITV’s statistics. Which is odd because Rogers certainly had one, and Anderson maybe also in the first half.
78 mins: Chance! And a save! Anderson crosses beyond the far post from the right, it’s headed down to Rashford, and his low shot is too close to Suzuki, who shovels it away. It falls to Bowen, whose shot on the spin goes wide.
Jarrod Bowen goes close for England Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 16.26 EDT
77 mins: A good cross from Bowen is half-cleared, Anderson seizes on it and goes into the area, but four defenders are upon him and he’s got nowhere to go.
74 mins: A fine cross from Hall, and for a moment there Japan’s unflappable defence was panicked. But then they cleared, and now they’ve reset.
71 mins: Another couple of England subs. Gordon and Mainoo are off, Rashford and Garner in.
70 mins: Time for another hydration break.
69 mins: Close! Nakamura pegs it down the left, collects the pass, cuts in past Livramento and curls a shot beyond the far post. Nakamura has been impressive tonight, what an athlete.
68 mins: The ball is played to Rogers inside the area, but he’s forced away from goal and ends up playing it back to Hall, newly arrived at left-back, whose cross deflects to Suzuki.
65 mins: Japan bring on Ogawa and Seko. Ueda and Ito go off. So that’s two forwards off, a forward and a defender on.
65 mins: Rogers takes it, and hits the wall.
Morgan Rogers pings it straight into the wall. A waste Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 16.16 EDT
64 mins: The substitutes have brought a bit of urgency. Rogers is fouled just outside the penalty area, and someone will have a shot from a tasty spot just to the right of the D.
62 mins: Suzuki is forced into action by Rogers, a bit of a scuffed shot but it’ll go down as one on target.
59 mins: Substitutions! Two of England’s front three go off, in Palmer and Foden, and so do the two full-backs in White and O’Reilly. Solanke, Bowen, Hall and Livramento come on.
Here come the changes for England. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 16.08 EDT
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.
Japan are causing all sorts of problems for the England back line. Photograph: John Walton/PAShare
Updated at 16.02 EDT
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.”
It’s all been a bit flat at Wembley. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 15.53 EDT
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.”
ShareHalf 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.