England 0-1 Japan: Mitoma scores for the guest as the three lions suffer lost

England sorely missed injured talisman Harry Kane as Japan claimed a historic 1-0 away win in Tuesday's friendly, thanks to Kaoru Mitoma's first-half finish.

Match Report

England sorely missed injured talisman Harry Kane as Japan claimed a historic 1-0 away win in Tuesday's friendly, thanks to Kaoru Mitoma's first-half finish.

With makeshift false nine Phil Foden stepping in for captain Kane in England's final friendly on home soil before the World Cup, Thomas Tuchel was left with more questions than answers at Wembley Stadium as in-form Japan claimed their fifth consecutive victory.

England lacked any real attacking threat early on and found themselves behind 23 minutes in when Mitoma led a rapid counter-attack and offloaded to his left for Keito Nakamura, who then returned the favour with a low centre for the Brighton winger to side-foot home from 12 yards out.

Elliot Anderson responded by whipping a ferocious strike that Zion Suzuki expertly tipped onto the crossbar, though Ayase Ueda had a deflected effort down the other end clip the top of Jordan Pickford's woodwork before half-time.

Pickford had to be alert early into the second half to kick away Ritsu Doan's disguised drive at his near post, while Nakamura curled narrowly wide after Tuchel's Foden experiment ended with the introduction of out-and-out striker Dominic Solanke.

Substitute Marcus Rashford tested Suzuki with 12 minutes remaining before Jarrod Bowen fired a follow-up effort wide, and then Yukinari Sugawara cleared Harry Maguire's 84th-minute header off the line.

And England were left to rue a toothless attacking showing when Suzuki continued his busy ending with a fine stop from Lewis Hall's snapshot before Morgan Rogers blazed over as Japan became the first Asian nation to defeat the Three Lions in 11 attempts.

Data Debrief: Pickford perfection ends

Mitoma's opener was his first Japan goal in nine games, while Pickford conceded for the first time since October 2024 (v Greece), ending a run of 922 minutes without being beaten for England.

That Greece game also marked the last time England conceded the opening goal of a game, having netted first in each of their previous 14 matches, and in all of their first 11 games under Tuchel.

But Tuchel has bigger concerns with Kane's absence – his use of Cole Palmer and Foden further forward saw the pair fail to have a shot on target, while the Manchester City man did not create a single chance.

With the World Cup on the horizon, Tuchel will know he needs a solution after suffering a second international defeat in 12 games in charge, despite England accumulating 0.96 expected goals (xG) to Japan's 0.58.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

9' Palmer provides a through pass but it goes out of the line

11' Tsuyoshi fouls as he brings down Foden from behind

13' Guehi's header is denied, Gordon gets to the rebound, but his effort is blocked

23' GOAL! Mitoma receives a killer pass and drills the ball in! England 0-1 Japan

30' The ref blows his whistle as Tsuyoshi is too aggressive in his challenge

34' Anderson curls his effort towards the top far corner, but it hits the crossbar

50' Doan bursts into the box, but his effort is saved by the keeper

56' Ito takes a shot from the edge of the box, but his effort is blocked

63' The free kick is delivered by Morgan Rogers but it is easily cleared

67' Bowen goes one-on-one with the defender, but he loses control of the ball

71' Nakamura is teed up with a pass after a nice flowing move but his shot goes wide

84' Maguire sends a header from the resulting corner, but a defender clears the ball

Line-ups

England XI: Pickford, Elliot Anderson, Ngoyo, Ben White, Foden, Guehi, Morgan Rogers, Gordon, Cole Palmer, Mainoo, Nico O'Reilly

Subs: Steele, Burn, Maguire, Dean Henderson, Solanke, Bowen, Rashford, Barnes, Spence, Tino Livramento, Garner, James Trafford, Bellingham, Lewis Hall

Japan XI: Shogo Taniguchi, Junya Ito, Ritsu Doan, Kamada, Hiroki Ito, Keito Nakamura, Zion Suzuki, Kaoru Mitoma, Ayase Ueda, Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Kaishu Sano

Subs: Koki Ogawa, Daizen Maeda, Ao Tanaka, Ayumu Seko, Keisuke Osako, Daiki Hashioka, Yukinari Sugawara, Shuto Machino, Joel Chima Fujita, Yuito Suzuki, Tomoki Hayakawa, Keisuke Goto, Junnosuke Suzuki, Ryunosuke Sato, Kento Shiogai