Thomas Tuchel’s excellent begin as England head coach got here to an finish after a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Senegal on the Metropolis Floor in Nottingham.
Regardless of taking the lead via Harry Kane early on, objectives from Ismaila Sarr, Habib Diarra, and Cheikh Sabaly accomplished a comeback victory for the guests as England misplaced to African opposition for the primary time.
Senegal had the primary massive probability of the sport via Nicolas Jackson after 5 minutes, however Dean Henderson made a wise save to disclaim the striker.
Kane put the hosts forward two minutes later as he was quickest to react when Edouard Mendy parried Anthony Gordon’s shot.
Gordon had an ideal probability to double England’s lead simply earlier than the half-hour mark however he missed the goal from shut vary.
Tuchel’s facet had been left to rue that miss when Sarr discovered the bottom-left nook after racing onto Jackson’s centre after the Chelsea striker caught Kyle Walker napping.
6 – Senegal had six pictures on the right track within the first half; probably the most England have confronted within the opening half of a recreation since June 2013 v Brazil on the Maracanã (8). Fragility. pic.twitter.com/dcdnjtgujL
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 10, 2025
Walker was crushed once more early within the second half by El Malick Diouf, whose good cross was turned over the bar by Diarra.
Nevertheless, Diarra did discover the again of the online within the 62nd minute after he obtained on the top of a protracted ball from Kalidou Koulibaly and completed from a good angle.
England nearly replied instantly, however Mendy made two nice saves to disclaim Morgan Gibbs-White after which Bukayo Saka.
Substitute Jude Bellingham thought he scored an equaliser with six minutes to go earlier than it was disallowed for a handball within the build-up by Levi Colwill following a VAR assessment.
Sabaly completed the sport off within the third minute of extra time, ending a fast counter-attack to compound a depressing night for the Three Lions.
Information Debrief: Meals for thought for Tuchel
It was a dismal night for England, although there have been some constructive notes to return from the outing.
Kane has scored in all 4 of England’s video games below Tuchel; the primary time ever {that a} participant has netted in every of a supervisor’s first 4 matches answerable for the Three Lions.
He has netted 48 objectives in 49 appearances below Tuchel (44 at Bayern Munich and 4 for England), with this his greatest objectives per recreation ratio (0.98) below any supervisor in his whole profession.
England suffered their first ever defeat towards an African opponent, in what was their twenty second such match (beforehand W15 D6). This was additionally the primary time that they had conceded three-plus objectives in a recreation towards an African facet.