England suffered a 1-0 defeat against Japan on Tuesday and a 1-1 draw with Uruguay in the March 2026 friendlies, sending a grim forecast before World Cup. In both games, Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane was absent, and England coach Thomas Tuchel said it was due to a "minor issue in training".
However, the press in England is starting to get really worried about what life will be for England without Harry Kane. The 32-year-old striker has scored 48 goals in 40 games with Bayern Munich, a personal record in his career. Does England have a dependency on Kane to win?
"Should any misfortune befall England's only world-class striker - perhaps their only high-class striker - in the 78 days between this game and their World Cup opener against Croatia in Arlington on 17 June, that could spell serious trouble", reported BBC, saying that without Kane, England lacked "punch, creativity and cutting edge".
The use of Phil Foden as false 9 to make up for Kane's absence was criticised, with Sky Sports saying that "this may have been the final nail in the coffin at the worst possible time with the 25-year-old singled out, alongside Palmer, for his lack of attacking return following the Japan defeat".
Tuchel normalises the "dependency" on Harry Kane for England
England coach Thomas Tuchel was asked about the dependency on Kane, and Tuchel defended it, comparing him to Messi and Ronaldo: "Why would Argentina not rely on Messi or Portugal not rely on Cristiano Ronaldo?" Tuchel said on ITV (via Goal.com). "This is totally normal. Key players left camp for us, key figures. We saw that a bit. We lacked a punch in the last 20 metres in both matches. In the absence of Harry Kane, we don't have the same threat. Bayern Munich in the absence of Harry Kane has not the same threat. No team in the world has the same threat".
However, England has lacked consistency even after the arrival of Thomas Tuchel as new manager, who has not beaten any of the three FIFA Top-20 teams he has played against since he took charge of the team replacing Lee Carsley as interim manager after Southgate's resignation: a 3-1 loss to Senegal (14th), a 1-1 draw with Uruguay (17th) and now a 1-0 defeat to Japan, ranked 18th in the world. Some criticise that Tuchel is being too experimental, and so far nothing seems to work except on the reliance on Harry Kane...