![\"Japan's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1cca960e-5432-4cd4-901e-b4bab15e1f32.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThere were a handful of boos from those left inside what had been a sold-out Wembley Stadium after a largely lifeless display compounded Friday\u2019s stop-start 1-1 draw with physical Uruguay.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s defeat was Tuchel\u2019s second since taking charge at the start of last year and decided by Kaoru Mitoma\u2019s fine first-half finish at the end of a well-worked move started by the Japan star dispossessing Cole Palmer.<\/p>\n
This was another experimental side named by the German coach, who again made a swathe of substitutions throughout a friendly that provided more questions than answers, including how to score without Harry Kane.<\/p>\n
The skipper sat out the send-off fixture having picked up a knock in training and watched England fail to register a shot on target during a drab first half in which Elliot Anderson saw an effort clip the crossbar.<\/p>\n
The Euro 2024 runners-up bossed possession before and after the break but lacked incision, spark and fluidity despite a late push in the last game before Tuchel names his World Cup squad in eight weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n
Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and John Stones should be on the plane but were among those to withdraw through injury in the build-up to a game Kane, Jordan Henderson and Jude Bellingham were not risked for.<\/p>\n
Marc Guehi captained England for the first time and Phil Foden started as a false nine with Kane absent, with Ben White\u2019s name booed by some after he was handed a start.<\/p>\n
Much-changed England struggled to get going and Morgan Rogers and Anthony Gordon had shots blocked either side of Guehi seeing efforts thwarted by last-ditch defending.<\/p>\n
But the hosts lacked rhythm and potency against a Japan side who showed a ruthless edge midway through the first half.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Japan’s Kaoru Mitoma celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates REUTERS\/Isabel Infantes<\/p>\n
Palmer was dispossessed by Mitoma, who played the ball wide and continued his run towards the box. Keito Nakamura eventually squared the ball and the Brighton star produced a cool, low finish.<\/p>\n
England looked to bounce back and the impressive Anderson saw a strike from the edge of the box kiss the top of the crossbar courtesy of a slight touch off Ritsu Doan.<\/p>\n
Foden was outjumped trying to reach a Nico O\u2019Reilly cross but Japan were still getting joy at the other end, with Ezri Konsa required to make a key block to take Ayase Ueda\u2019s strike onto the crossbar after Kaishu Sano cut open the defence.<\/p>\n
Tuchel decided against half-time changes and England continued to wobble, with Jordan Pickford producing an important near-post stop with his feet when Doan easily burst past O\u2019Reilly.<\/p>\n
Tuchel made four alterations but England continued to toil and Nakamura bent narrowly wide before Tuchel again tweaked his side.<\/p>\n
Marcus Rashford was introduced and his shot was too hot for Zion Suzuki to handle, with fellow substitute Jarrod Bowen hitting wide on the turn.<\/p>\n
Tuchel turned in the closing stages to Dan Burn and Harry Maguire, whose first touch was a thumping header that Yuki Sugawara cleared off the line as England fans chanted his name.<\/p>\n
Maguire continued to prove a handful as Lewis Hall saw a snapshot saved, with Burn blocked by a team-mate before Rogers lashed over from the resulting corner.<\/p>\n
Those left at Wembley let their unhappiness be known.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There were a handful of boos from those left inside what had been a sold-out Wembley Stadium after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,23,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-414227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latest-news-ticker","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-top-stories","23":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116327153968268944","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}