LONDON (AP) – Manager Thomas Tuchel insisted England’s disappointing 1-0 loss to Japan in a friendly on Tuesday will not affect his team’s chances in the next game. world cup.
England lost some of the momentum they had built under Tuchel with the draw. Uruguay and The match was played at Wembley Stadium on Friday, and four days later they lost at the same venue to a first-half goal from Japan’s Kaoru Mitoma.
Coach Tuchel prepared an experimental lineup for both games, including the captain and other key regulars. harry kane, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka Missing due to minor injuries.
The German manager also said that many players are “hugely invested” in their club activities at this stage of the season.
For that reason, manager Tuchel was confident that “this camp will not define us.”
“The reality is that teams like Uruguay and Japan come with top players and enough training, but it’s a difficult task,” Tuchel said.
“We didn’t need to lose the game. Unfortunately we did. It’s disappointing. I hate losing as much as anyone. It’s going to take some time to digest this game, but it won’t affect me too much until I get to the United States.”
Cole Palmer and Phil Foden, stars of the Premier League, are fighting for a place in England’s World Cup squad and were given another chance to impress Tuchel after being given the starting XI against Japan.
According to statistics firm Opta, the team failed to get a shot on target in a friendly since 2017, and England were particularly poor in the first half, unable to secure a victory.
Palmer and Foden face uncertainty over whether they will be fit for the tournament, with Morgan Rodgers and Jude Bellingham the other options at attacking midfield.
“I don’t really like to talk about individuals, but of course if you put an attacking player on the pitch, you demand attacking action, you demand creativity, you demand shots, you demand assists, but obviously it wasn’t enough. We couldn’t create,” said Tuchel, who used Foden as a so-called “false nine” in Kane’s absence.
“We made it difficult to find them in the half-spaces. We struggled to open up that space. We played against a deep 5-4-1. We didn’t use the width of the field enough to make a difference and our attacking players struggled to make a difference.”
Tuchel admitted that Kane’s absence is hurting his team.
“There’s no team in the world that has the same threat (without Kane),” he said. “That’s normal. And on top of that, with Harry dropping out, we not only lost him as a player, we lost him as a character. It’s always a little confusing when a captain leaves the last training session after 15 minutes and is out of the team.”
“We can still win games without Harry,” Tuchel added. “We’ll win without Harry. We’ve won without Harry, but of course it’s easier to win games with Harry in there.”
In other friendlies, Euro 2024 champions Spain drew 0-0 with Egypt, while Netherlands, who are expected to win another title this summer, drew 1-1 at home to Ecuador after playing most of the game with 10 men following Denzel Dumfries’ 12th-minute red card.
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