SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team) claimed a historic 1–0 victory over England at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday 31 March in the KIRIN WORLD CHALLENGE 2026 international friendly.

England, who had swept through the European qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 with a perfect record and without conceding a goal, arrived for the match ranked fourth in the world (as of 19 January), significantly above Japan in 19th. Facing one of the tournament favourites, head coach MORIYASU Hajime set the tone pre-match: to test what Japan can do against one of the best teams in the world, while aiming for victory and assessing their current level.

Japan lined up in the same 3-4-2-1 system used against Scotland three days earlier, but with eight changes to the starting XI. GK was again SUZUKI Zion (Parma Calcio 1913), while the back three comprised WATANABE Tsuyoshi (Feyenoord) on the right, TANIGUCHI Shogo (Sint-Truidense VV) centrally, and ITO Hiroki (Bayern Munich) on the left, with Watanabe and Ito starting for the second consecutive match. .....

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日本サッカー協会（JFA）／日本代表／なでしこジャパン(@japanfootballassociation)がシェアした投稿

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