Japan caused another shock by beating England in a friendly match.

After fielding an experimental starting lineup in the 1-1 draw with Uruguay on Friday, England manager Thomas Tuchel announced a lineup close to his strongest in the final friendly before announcing the World Cup (WC) squad in May.

However, some high-profile players were still absent, including captain and all-time top scorer Harry Kane, who missed the match after sustaining a minor injury in training. Marc Guéhi, who was called up to the national team for the first time, had a header and a blocked shot in quick succession in the 13th minute after an England corner led to a scramble in the Japanese penalty area.

The visitors played on the counterattack and took the lead thanks to a sharp counterattack, when Mitoma stole the ball from Cole Palmer and passed to Keito Nakamura on the left before he ran into the box to receive the return pass and shoot immediately.

This was the Japanese forward's ninth international goal and the first goal Jordan Pickford had conceded for England since October 2024.

The home team did not launch any strong attacks until the 34th minute, when Zion Suzuki, the Japanese goalkeeper, had to dive to his left to push Elliot Anderson's curling shot onto the crossbar. Ayase Ueda then responded in kind when he also shot the ball off the crossbar after breaking the offside trap four minutes before half-time.

After the break, the Samurai Blue continued to play with greater skill than their opponents, and Ritsu Doan took advantage of a mistake by Nico O'Reilly five minutes after the restart. Pickford had to work hard to block this attack.

Tuchel finally made four substitutions right before the 60^(th) minute, with Jarrod Bowen, Lewis Hall, Dominic Solanke and Tino Livramento coming on for Palmer, Ben White, Phil Foden and O'Reilly.

However, these changes did not have the desired effect. Nakamura was the next player to cause danger when he took the ball inside and shot into the far corner of the goal; fortunately, the ball went wide.

Marcus Rashford came on for Anthony Gordon and had a shot saved by Suzuki in the 79th minute, after which Bowen shot wide. Then, Harry Maguire's header was cleared off the line by Yukinari Sugawara, and Morgan Rogers shot over the crossbar.

However, this was the first time that the Three Lions had failed to score since June 2024, and the match ended in Tuchel's first defeat as England's head coach at Wembley.

Meanwhile, Japan are in excellent form ahead of their eighth consecutive World Cup, having completed a double over the nations of the United Kingdom with a 1-0 win over Scotland on Saturday.