England set unwanted record in 1-0 friendly defeat against Japan at Wembley | OneFootball

England suffered a damaging 1-0 defeat against Japan at Wembley Stadium, putting a massive dent in their preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Brighton & Hove Albion forward Kaoru Mitoma scored the decisive goal in the end-to-end international friendly, condemning England to their first-ever defeat against an Asian country.

The 28-year-old found the back of the net in the 23rd minute, and he turned out to be the matchwinner, handing Japan their first-ever victory against England.

The result also extended the Samurai Blue’s impressive winning streak to five matches on the bounce.

England went into the game looking to bounce back from a massively underwhelming 1-1 draw against Uruguay, although manager Thomas Tuchel could be forgiven for fielding an experimental line-up.

A host of heavy hitters were unavailable and forced to watch from the stands as Ben White’s late opener was cancelled out by a last-minute penalty from Federico Valverde.

Returning to Wembley – the iconic ground which hosted the inaugural Finalissima – Tuchel opted for a line-up closer to his preferred starting XI.

He still wasn’t able to call on captain Harry Kane due to a minor injury, but that doesn’t justify yet another disappointing performance from the Three Lions.

In fairness, England started the game on the front foot. Marc Guehi, who wore the armband in Kane’s absence, came close to opening the scoring in the 13th minute.

The Manchester City centre-back saw his header and rebound effort blocked during a scramble in Japan’s 18-yard area. But England failed to build on that early pressure, struggling to create any clear chances.

Meanwhile, Japan spent much of the opening minutes sizing up the hosts and picking their moments.

The Samurai Blue were already brimming with confidence after putting England’s next-door neighbours to the sword, claiming a 1-0 win over Scotland just four days before.

It didn’t take long for them to punish the Three Lions as Mitoma linked up with Keito Nakamura before slotting past Jordan Pickford midway through the first half.

The Brighton forward became the first player to get past Pickford since October 2024. 

England attempted to put up a fight but lacked sharpness in the final third to really trouble Zion Suzuki in the Japan goal. 

Suzuki had to wait for over half an hour for his first real test, reacting quickly to tip a curling effort from Elliot Anderson onto the crossbar.

However, Japan were soon back on the front foot and nearly doubled their advantage on the stroke of half time when Ayase Ueda clipped the crossbar with a deflected effort.

England had the post to thank for going into the half-time interval trailing by just one goal, although they’d feel they deserved to be level having also hit the crossbar.

Nevertheless, it was the Samurai Blue that looked more likely to get the next goal, and Ritsu Doan came close to doing so just five minutes into the second half.

The Eintracht Frankfurt winger caught Man City’s EFL Cup hero Nico O’Reilly napping, but Pickford spared his blushes by keeping Doan out at the near post.

Desperate to turn things around, Tuchel made four changes just before the hour mark. But it was Japan who came close to scoring yet again as Nakamura curled his effort just past the far post.

Harry Maguire came closest to snatching a draw for England, but the Manchester United defender’s header was cleared off the line by Yukinari Sugawara.

Japan ultimately did enough to see out a famous victory over England, who failed to score in a game for the first time since June 2024, when they were held to a goalless draw by Slovenia.

Wrapping up March’s round of fixtures with a narrow defeat certainly wasn’t on Tuchel’s bingo card, so it’s back to the drawing board for the German tactician.

The former Chelsea manager needs to come up with a winning formula before the next international break in June, when England take on Costa Rica before their World Cup opener against Croatia.