The playing of a Scotland fixture on Merseyside provided a significant boost to the area’s hospitality sector. Questions remain over whether Scotland’s upcoming World Cup involvement can deliver on-field impact. There was improvement and encouragement for Steve Clarke despite Côte d’Ivoire’s success. Yet Scotland still look short, particularly of scoring threat. Clarke, while positive in demeanour and sentiment, bemoaned a lack of “calmness” in front of goal.

This has proved a wholly rewarding stopoff in the United Kingdom for Côte d’Ivoire. Les Éléphants will remember their two wins from two. But for wastefulness, this victory would have been by a grander margin.

It is not a question that Thomas Tuchel wants to entertain at the World Cup this summer but one he had a run at here in what was supposed to be England’s grand Wembley sendoff. Can the team thrive against good opposition without Harry Kane? The answer was played out across an increasingly frustrating 90 minutes. It was no.

It was not all about Kane, who missed out because of a sore foot. But it was easy to conflate England’s lack of cutting edge with his absence. Tuchel had highlighted on Monday the poor goal returns from his other attacking players. They needed to bring more to the party. There was only bluntness.

England lost 1-0 to Japan at Wembley after Kaoru Mitoma’s first-half strike added to Thomas Tuchel’s friendly woes

5 mins: Now Ito is played in on the right side of the area, with Mitoma completely on his own in the middle, but Pickford comes out to cut off the forward’s options.

3 mins: The first proper attack comes from Japan, with Ben White being beaten with humbling ease on England’s right but the cross bounces out of play.

Fresh from a rampant qualification and a win over Brazil, Hajime Moriyasu’s side want to make another statement with a first victory over England

Just before the 2002 World Cup, South Korea played Scotland and England in the space of a few days. A 4-1 win against the former in the second city of Busan was followed by a 1-1 draw on the honeymoon island of Jeju, with the future Manchester United teammates Michael Owen and Park Ji-sung the scorers. These results gave the Taegeuk Warriors the confidence to reach the semi finals.

Japan are not on home soil but have lined up the same opposition, beating Scotland 1-0 in Glasgow on Saturday before heading to Wembley on Tuesday.

Scotland’s followers have discovered there is a drawback to World Cup qualification after all. Nobody who paid – and handsomely – to sit through the sheer tedium of this fixture could reasonably deny that. Yes, Scotland, you can come to the party; but only after a clutch of international friendlies. It is just about worth the trade-off.

Officially, this marked the start of the tournament buildup for the Scots and Japan. It was a game that involved the going through of motions rather than one from which to draw strong conclusions. Japan were the slicker team, as should be expected for a nation which has aspirations of making a proper impact in the summer. Junya Ito ensured the visitors headed towards Wembley in fine fettle, his goal fitting reward for Japan’s enterprising approach.

• Injured quartet join Wharton on sidelines

• Tuchel concerned about team’s workload

Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke and John Stones have complicated Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup preparations by joining the contingent who have left the squad before England’s friendly against Japan.

Tuchel named an oversized 35-man squad for this month’s camp, with a view to creating competition for places before the final selection for this summer’s finals in Canada, Mexico and the USA is made. Saka and Rice were among a group of 11 players who were allowed to join up late, meaning England played an experimental side when they drew with Uruguay at Wembley on Friday night.

⚽ Updates from the friendly at Hampden Park (5pm GMT)
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10 seconds: McGinn and Tanaka clash heads. Play stops. It was good while it lasted.

Japan get the ball rolling. Hampden roars!

England were disjointed against Uruguay but no wonder – the head coach’s team selection was an act of self sabotage

Before this game Thomas Tuchel had said he would base his starting XI on what he saw on the training ground. Halfway through an evening at Wembley Stadium that felt like being stabbed very slowly through the eyes with a butter knife made entirely from death, ear wax and empty corporate leisure product, it was tempting to wonder about this.

What exactly had the players left out done in training to be deemed ineligible for this England team? Turn up naked? Vomit into a traffic cone? Attempt to stage a game of Cluedo during set-piece practice? Perhaps Adam Wharton had killed a crow and stapled its innards to the dressing‑room door.

Ben White arrived to a chorus of jeers from the England support when Thomas Tuchel introduced him as a 68th minute substitute. Of course he did. There ought to be no second chances for the Arsenal defender in the eyes of plenty of those present. He let the country down when he walked out on the England squad during the 2022 World Cup and made himself unavailable for the next two years.

The real surprise was what happened next. It was one of those paper aeroplane Wembley friendlies, the fans making their own entertainment in the absence of very much on the pitch. Tuchel was happy enough with the collective performance from his scratch lineup, drilling into the finer details, including the players’ work out of possession. There was next-to-no cutting edge, any drive.

Ben White was booed on, scored what looked like the winner, then gave away a stoppage-time penalty. Say what you will, but the man’s box-office

The teams are out! England in that aforementioned red, Uruguay in their sky blue. Time for the anthems. God Save the King we all know about; the Uruguayan one really gets the juices flowing, though. And while we’re on the subject of Jonathan Wilson, which we kind of were, he tells a wonderful anecdote about that anthem during today’s edition of Football Weekly Extra. Just before the 45-minute mark should get you there; enjoy, enjoy. We’ll be off in a couple of seconds.

Uruguay are not heading into this match in the finest of fettle. Jonathan Wilson reports on that 5-1 shellacking by the USA and some Luis Suárez-infused rancour.

• England Women 8-0 China

• Mead 12 14, Hemp 16, Stanway 23 38pen 52, Toone 71, Russo 78

Deja vu? Heavy England wins have been few and far between in recent years. A 7-0 defeat of a heavily depleted and underfunded Jamaica in their final warm-up game before the Euros was the biggest since a 10-0 defeat of Luxembourg in 2022.

Against China at a moon-topped Wembley, the margin was eight, a Georgia Stanway hat-trick and Beth Mead double was added to by goals from Lauren Hemp, Ella Toone and Alessia Russo to complete the rout.