The lineups are in and they look like this. Marc Guehi becomes the 129th England captain:
England: Pickford, White, Konsa, Guehi, O’Reilly, Anderson, Mainoo, Palmer, Rogers, Foden, Gordon. Subs: Trafford, Steele, Henderson, Maguire, Bellingham, Rashford, Burn, Solanke, Barnes, Bowen, Garner, Spence, Livramento, Hall.
Japan: Suzuki, J Ito, Watanabe, Taniguchi, Nakamura, Sano, Kamada, Doan, Mitoma, H Ito, Ueda. Subs: Hayakawa, Osaka, Sugawara, Seko, Fujita, Y Suzuki, Machino, Maeda, Hashioka, Tanaka, Ogawa, J Suzuki.
Hello world! Shall we see what footballing spaghetti sticks when Thomas Tuchel flings it at the Wembley wall this evening? It might not be the easiest possible sell, but watching spaghetti stick can only be more entertaining than the watching-paint-dry misery reported by those who – unlike, I might as well admit it now, myself – endured Friday’s 1-1 draw against Uruguay. Since then England’s players have gone from drawing to withdrawing, with John Stones and, somewhat suspiciously, a load of Arsenal players dropping out of the squad citing something or other. This is England’s last outing before June, when they squeeze in a couple of friendlies before the World Cup gets under way, and feels like it should be more important than it feels like England feel like it is. But just maybe, hopefully, it will come in time, and perhaps only a few hours, to feel important. And so, here we are. Welcome!
