England vs Japan LIVE: Star players face nervous pre-World Cup wait after ‘painful’ Wembley defeat | OneFootball

Palmer was taken off after his error led to Japan’s first-half goal, taken superbly by Kauro Mitoma (Bradley Collyer/PA Wire)

England have played their last match before Thomas Tuchel names his World Cup squad and some stars may be fearing for their place on the plane following an underwhelming 1-0 defeat to brilliant Japan at Wembley.

Without the injured captain Harry Kane and with Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka also unavailable, Tuchel’s side lacked inspiration in attack and were cut apart by Kauro Mitoma’s first-half opener, with sharp Japan slicing England open on the counter-attack after Cole Palmer was dispossessed.

Palmer and Phil Foden lasted less than an hour and given the options at England’s disposal at No 10, neither can be guaranteed a place in Tuchel’s World Cup squad when he names his squad towards the end of the season.

“For sure it hurts, it's painful always to lose and to lose at home hurts,” Tuchel said. “But we need these matches. We tried stuff and we need to learn.”

Why Italy’s latest World Cup disaster is now the norm

The four-time winners will once again miss this summer’s showpiece – and their problems run deep, writes Richard Jolly

Why Italy’s latest World Cup disaster is now the norm

Comment: The four-time winners will once again miss this summer’s showpiece – and their problems run deep

Richard Jolly1 April 2026 14:50

European countries fume over home advantage in ‘extremely unfair’ World Cup qualifying

European countries feel that Uefa's mere 16 places in a 48-team World Cup are not enough, amid some disquiet about the nature of having home advantage for play-offs of such immense stakes.

Some senior officials have been describing the latter as "extremely unfair", and feel neutral venues could be explored for the future. It is a situation that could also be influenced by having more teams.

With this World Cup expanding to 48 teams for the first time, Uefa was given a mere three extra places, going up from 13 to 16. It is understood that this has been a long-running issue for European associations, who do not feel that increase is fair representation.

Miguel Delaney1 April 2026 13:49

Thomas Tuchel admits World Cup injury fears ahead of England squad selection

England manager Thomas Tuchel has admitted he will be watching the remainder of the domestic season through his fingers as he grapples with mounting injury concerns ahead of the World Cup.

The injury list is already significant, with Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and John Stones having withdrawn from the squad in recent days, and key players Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Jordan Henderson were rested for the Japan fixture. Tuchel expressed his deep concern about the coming weeks.

"It will be scary to watch TV on the weekend and through (the rest of the season) because from now on every muscle injury can mean that a player misses out," the England boss said.

"It’s one thing if players go, if players get injured, which is anyway not nice but then Jordan Henderson, who is a key figure for us in camp, is out, Declan Rice is out, Bukayo is out.

“They are captains for their clubs and they drive the standards. And then Harry Kane drops out so it’s basically the leadership group who is not available. This affects, of course, a group."

Thomas Tuchel offers Harry Kane update after last-minute England injury

Thomas Tuchel confirmed the injury that ruled captain Harry Kane out of England’s friendly against Japan came “out of nothing”.

The Bayern Munich striker sat out the pre-World Cup test at Wembley as a precaution, with Kane “having picked up a minor issue in training”.

It left Tuchel without another key player following the withdrawals of Arsenal duo Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka this week.

And the England manager told ITV: “It’s a minor injury from basically out of nothing.

“He had to step out of training yesterday after 15 minutes. No chance to be involved, not even today. He is being further assessed now.”

Tuchel said it was normal for England to suffer without Kane, whose injury status remains unclear, after they lost 1-0 at Wembley.

“Why would Argentina not rely on Messi or Portugal not rely on Cristiano Ronaldo?” Tuchel told ITV. “It’s totally normal. We saw it a bit. We lacked a punch in the last 20 metres in both matches.

“Today in the first half we played way too narrow. Second half had more width and more dynamic on the wings, we took more risk and had chances but couldn’t convert.”

(The FA via Getty Images)

Thomas Tuchel on pressure: 'I don't want to engage in that'

Speaking to ITV last night, Thomas Tuchel refused to discuss whether the England is weighing heavily on some players.

“No, I don’t want to engage in that discussion because it’s very clear what we want to do and play and focus on principles and the doing of what it means. It comes with pressure, noise, playing for England. That’s just how it is.

“We need to see how the players adapt to it. We tried, we have to learn from it. The players will play a lot of football in two months and we’ll be ready.”