INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY : ENGLAND VS JAPAN – 31/03/2026 “NO KANE – NO GAIN” – (PHOTO – KAORU MITOMA SCORES)

WELL, THIS WAS A BIT OF A TURN-UP LAST NIGHT FROM AN ENGLAND PERSPECTIVE, IN ENGLAND’S MATCH AGAINST JAPAN! A USUALLY COHESIVE ENGLAND TEAM CAME UP AGAINST AN EXTREMELY FEISTY JAPANESE SQUAD AT WEMBLEY, AND THE THREE LIONS WEREN’T ABLE TO FIND THEIR WAY TO THE-BACK-OF-THE-NET, MAINLY DUE TO THE FACT THAT CAPTAIN AND STRIKER HARRY KANE HAD BEEN INJURED IN TRAINING, AND ALTHOUGH HE WAS ABLE TO WATCH FROM THE SIDELINES AT WEMBLEY, UNABLE TO HELP HIS TEAM. (WHICH MUST HAVE BEEN HEARTBREAKING FOR HIM!) ENGLAND HAD 11 CORNERS, (75% POSSESSION), MADE 4 FOULS, AND HAD 14 SHOTS, WITH 4 ON-TARGET, BUT NO GOALS ON THIS OCCASION. JAPAN HAD 1 CORNER, RECEIVED 2 YELLOW CARDS, MADE 12 FOULS, AND HAD 7 SHOTS WITH 3 ON-TARGET, INCLUDING A CRACKER FROM KAORU MITOMA AT 23 MINS., (WHO ALSO PLAYS FOR BRIGHTON), SO WITH NO FURTHER GOALS AFTER 90 MINS., THE MATCH ENDED IN A 1 – 0 WIN TO A WELL-ORGANISED JAPANESE TEAM, AND A THREE LIONS’ SQUAD WHO SORELY MISSED THEIR CAPTAIN!

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY : ENGLAND VS JAPAN – 31/03/2026

MARC GUEHI AND THOMAS TUCHEL SPEAK AFTER THE MATCH

THOMAS TUCHEL GIVES POST-MATCH PRESS CONFERENCE

IAN WRIGHT AND JOLEON LESCOTT DISCUSS THE MATCH