Tuchel confident England’s 1-0 friendly loss to Japan won’t hurt World Cup chances

By Canadian Press on March 31, 2026.

LONDON (AP) — Thomas Tuchel insisted England’s dispiriting 1-0 loss to Japan in a friendly on Tuesday will have no bearing on the team’s chances at the upcoming World Cup.

England has lost some of the momentum built up under Tuchel by drawing with Uruguay at Wembley Stadium on Friday and then succumbing to Kaoru Mitoma’s first-half goal for Japan at the same venue four days later.

Tuchel has fielded experimental lineups for both games, with key regulars like captain Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka missing because of minor injuries.

The German coach also said many of his players are “heavily invested” in their club campaigns at this stage of the season.

For that reason, Tuchel felt sure “this camp will not define us.”

“It’s just a reality if teams like Uruguay or Japan come well-drilled, with their top lineup, it’s a difficult task,” Tuchel said.

“It was not necessary to lose the match. Unfortunately, we lost it, which is disappointing, and I hate losing, like no one else, and it will take a while to digest. But it will not affect us massively for when we arrive in the U.S.”

Cole Palmer and Phil Foden are star players in the Premier League but battling to simply make England’s squad for the World Cup, and were given another chance to impress Tuchel after being handed starts against Japan.

They failed to take it, with England especially poor in the first half when the team failed to manage a shot on target for the first time in a friendly match since 2017, according to statistics company Opta.

With Morgan Rogers and Jude Bellingham other options as attacking midfielders, Palmer and Foden face anxious waits to see if they make the plane for the tournament.

“I’m not the biggest fan of talking about individuals, but, of course if we put offensive players on the pitch, we demand offensive actions, we demand creativity, we demand shots, we demand assists, and we clearly didn’t have enough. We could not create,” said Tuchel, who deployed Foden as a so-called “false nine” in Kane’s absence.

“We made it difficult for us to find them in the half-spaces. We struggled to open up these spaces. We played against the deep 5-4-1. We didn’t use the width of the field enough to make the difference, and our offensive players struggled to make the difference.”

Tuchel accepted that the absence of Kane hurt his team.

“No team in the world has the same threat (without Kane),” he said. “It’s just normal. On top of it, Harry dropped out so we lost not only him as a player, but we lost him as a personality. It’s always a bit disruptive if the captain leaves the last training after 15 minutes and is out of the squad.

“We can win games without Harry,” Tuchel added. “We will win without Harry. We have won without Harry, but it’s easier to win matches with Harry, of course.”

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The Associated Press