Key events
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:
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
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?
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!
