While South Korea's national team under head coach Hong Myung-bo hung its head after consecutive friendly losses to Côte d'Ivoire and Austria, Japan extended its international winning streak to five matches by defeating England, the birthplace of football.
Japan beat England 1-0 in a friendly at Wembley Stadium in London on March 31 (local time), holding on to a 23rd-minute goal by Mitoma Kaoru (Brighton & Hove Albion) for the victory.
The win made Japan the first Asian nation to defeat England. England had been unbeaten in 10 consecutive matches against Asian teams, with six wins and four draws.
Japan has been on a dominant run in international friendlies ahead of the World Cup. Starting with a 3-2 victory over Brazil in October last year, the team followed with wins against Ghana (2-0), Bolivia (3-0), and Scotland (1-0) before beating England 1-0 to complete a five-match winning streak. After the match, Japan head coach Moriyasu Hajime said, "By beating England, we gained confidence that we can beat any team," but added, "We are still not enough. We must not let our guard down and continue to improve."
Meanwhile, Italy — four-time World Cup champions (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006) — saw their hopes of reaching the tournament dashed after drawing 1-1 with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European qualifying playoff Group A final and losing 4-1 on penalties. The result means Italy have failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time, missing the 2018 Russia tournament, the 2022 Qatar tournament, and now the 2026 North America tournament.