Tuchel: ´Totally normal´ for England to rely on Kane

Thomas Tuchel insisted it is “totally normal” for England to rely on Harry Kane after they lost 1-0 to Japan in the striker’s absence.

Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma scored the only goal in the friendly at Wembley Stadium, with England failing to win both of their matches during this break following their 1-1 draw with Uruguay last week.

Since the start of 2024, England have only won one of their six friendlies played at Wembley (D2 L3), after losing just one of their 17 friendlies played at this venue between 2014 and 2023 (W12 D4).

It was also the first time since October 2024 against Greece that first-choice goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has conceded a goal for England, with Mitoma’s strike ending a run of 922 minutes without being beaten.

England accumulated just 0.99 xG from 19 shots, hitting the target just four times from those attempts.

For the first time since November 2017 (versus Germany), England did not manage a shot on target in the first half of a friendly.

England clearly struggled in Kane’s absence, with three of their four overall shots on target coming from corners in the final 15 minutes of play, but Tuchel was not concerned about their attacking play.

“Well, why would Argentina not rely on [Lionel] Messi or Portugal not rely on Cristiano Ronaldo? This is totally normal,” said the England boss.

Not our night, but plenty to learn from ahead of an exciting summer.

Thank you for your support throughout this camp, #ThreeLions fans pic.twitter.com/4LdsgDTvyJ

— England (@England) March 31, 2026

“Key figures left camp for us, and we saw that a bit. We lacked a punch.

“In the first half, we played way too narrow; we didn’t want that, but we made the pitch too narrow for ourselves.

“In the second half, we were more dynamic, we used the width more with our wingers and full-backs, which is what we wanted to do the whole time. We took more risks and had chances, but we could not convert.

“For sure, it hurts. It’s always painful to lose, and to lose at home hurts a lot. We got punished for not a lot, for one counter-attack in the first half. We need these matches; we know it is a tough opponent, and we had several players not available.

“A new formation again, we tried a lot of stuff, and we need to learn.”