Cole Palmer and Phil Foden hurt their World Cup hopes as England slump to miserable defeat by Japan | OneFootball

England’s final international break before Thomas Tuchel selects his World Cup squad began with a third-string side sharing a drab 1-1 draw with Uruguay. It ended with a largely second-string team suffering a dismal 1-0 defeat by Japan here at Wembley. If Tuchel learnt anything from the past few days, perhaps it is that he needs his first XI more than he knew if England are to last the distance in North America this summer.

The last match before a major tournament has little material impact. This is a friendly that will soon be forgotten. But these games do affect expectations around the England side, they set the temperature, and this was a night when England’s prospects of winning the World Cup were dialled down a few degrees.

In the absence of the injured Harry Kane, England played with a plethora of technicians on the field. The starting line-up was a departure from the majority of the Tuchel project over the past 15 months. The German has largely resisted playing his raft of No 10s together, instead preferring round pegs in round holes. Here he tried to fit Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers into the same team and the experiment failed miserably.

If this match did anything to move Tuchel’s World Cup plans, it was perhaps to cement a conclusion he has been hinting at for several months: that England’s best squad requires hard choices and big-name omissions. He wants clear roles and responsibilities, but this was a disjointed jumble, like a jigsaw with five corners. On a night when England played three No 10s, the game’s brightest spark was Japan’s Kuoru Mitoma.

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Kaoru Mitoma, right, celebrates after scoring Japan’s winner against England (John Walton/PA) (PA Wire)

Kane had picked up an injury “out of nothing”, Tuchel explained, while Jordan Henderson returned to Brentford with a knock. They joined John Stones, Noni Madueke, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham (named on the bench but confirmed by Tuchel as too much of an injury risk to play) and Adam Wharton on the list of England players to withdraw from action with injury.

Whether the prospect of looming Champions League quarter-finals played any part in the decisions for so many players to drop out remains unsaid. But it’s lucky Tuchel named so many players for this camp. After Aaron Ramsdale, Fikayo Tomori and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were all sent home following the Uruguay game, it left the manager without 11 of his original 35-man squad named two weeks ago.

One man’s absence is another’s opportunity, and here there were important auditions for Palmer, playing as the No 10, and Foden, leading the line. Given Tuchel’s apparent preference for Rogers and Bellingham, it may be that Palmer and Foden are fighting for the same seat on the plane as a versatile extra forward.

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Phil Foden struggled to make his mark playing as a false nine (Bradley Collyer/PA Wire)

Before kick-off Tuchel challenged them both to “be adventurous and put some spark on the field”. But Palmer had a disastrous first half, pickpocketed in the lead up to Japan’s goal and then wayward with his passing, the lowlight of which was a wide free-kick which he blazed over teammates waiting for a cross in the box.

Foden was no more inspiring, though perhaps through no fault of his own. He wore No 9 but he is not a striker. Midway through the first half, Nico O’Reilly floated a delicious cross into the six-yard box, the sort of ball Kane or even Dominic Calvert-Lewin would have relished. But Foden was outjumped by Daichi Kamada, and there was the stark evidence that this team needs a true nine, not a false one.

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England manager Thomas Tuchel replaced Foden in the second half (Action Images via Reuters)

Both Foden and Palmer were taken off just before the hour, and perhaps it was telling that they were replaced by a natural winger and striker in Jarrod Bowen and Dominic Solanke. England are simply a better team when they have players comfortable in their positions.

In the first half, England had picked up where they left off against Uruguay, sloppy and disjointed. Ezri Konsa and O’Reilly handed over possession cheaply in the opening minutes, and Tuchel went berserk at captain Marc Guehi when he failed to challenge for a high ball. The atmosphere went flat enough for Tuchel’s cajoling claps to be heard in the top tier.

So it wasn’t entirely surprising when Japan struck. Mitoma pinched the ball from a dithering Palmer in midfield and surged forwards, spreading it left before racing on to the return pass and sliding a first-time finish past Jordan Pickford into the corner. Tuchel threw his arms in the air as Palmer trudged back to the halfway line looking sheepish.

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England's players react to Japan winger Kaoru Mitoma's opening goal at Wembley (The FA via Getty Images)

Elliot Anderson hit the crossbar and so did striker Ayase Ueda at the other end, before Japan reached the break ahead. England fans aired their disapproval as half-time boos and a fleet of paper aeroplanes rained down from the stands.

The second half was a little brighter in patches, scratchy in others. Substitutions broke up the flow. Families departed for the tube. And although England pushed and prodded at Japan’s defensive line, they never really looked like breaching it.

Most of the stadium had emptied by the full-time whistle and the home fans’ boos were fittingly half-hearted. In the south-west corner of the ground, Japan’s throng of supporters bounced around giddily, waving flags and chanting into the night sky as their players came over to receive their adulation. At the end of a torrid night, England had been outrun, outdone and outsung.