England’s reliance on Harry Kane is similar to Argentina with Messi and Portugal with Ronaldo, says Tuchel
Harry Kane‘s absence proved costly for England in their final friendly of the March window, as the Three Lions were stunned by Japan in a 1-0 defeat. In the aftermath, head coach Thomas Tuchel drew a bold comparison, arguing that England’s dependence on their striker is no different from Argentina’s reliance on Lionel Messi or Portugal’s on Cristiano Ronaldo.
England had opened the March window with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Uruguay, a game that felt anything but a friendly given the intensity on display from both sides. But on Tuesday, with Kane sitting in the stands due to a minor injury, the Three Lions were beaten at Wembley Stadium, with Kaoru Mitoma scoring the only goal to hand Japan a 1-0 victory in a result that fell well short of home fans’ expectations.
In a post-game interview with ITV, Tuchel was asked whether the team had become too dependent on Kane, and the German responded with a pointed comparison. “Well, why would Argentina not rely on Messi or Portugal not rely on Cristiano Ronaldo? This is totally normal. Key figures left camp for us, and we saw that a bit. We lacked a punch.“
Pressed on the same topic during the post-match press conference, Tuchel doubled down on his striker’s importance. “In the absence of Harry Kane, we don’t have the same threat. Bayern Munich, in the absence of Harry Kane, don’t have the same threat. For top teams and top nations, it’s normal to rely on top players. We can win without Harry, but it’s easier to win with him, of course,” he said.
Is England too dependent on Kane?
As Tuchel suggested, the quality of a player like Harry Kane can only be measured against that exclusive tier of the world’s best, particularly given his current form. The all-time leading scorer for England with 78 goals in 112 appearances, Kane has also been in devastating club form, tallying 48 goals and five assists in 40 games for Bayern Munich in the 2025-26 season while leading the Golden Boot race.
The numbers over the past two years further underline how central Kane has been to England’s success. In that stretch, the Bayern striker featured in 23 matches, during which the team posted 18 wins, two draws and three defeats, including the landmark victory in the Euro 2024 final, with Kane contributing 16 goals across those games.
In that same period, Kane was absent from the squad for just five matches, and the results paint a stark picture. England lost to Brazil, drew with Belgium, fell 2-1 to Greece in the UEFA Nations League, and now have added defeats to Uruguay and Japan to the tally, producing a record of three defeats, two draws and zero wins without their captain, troubling numbers that speak to a genuine dependence on the striker.
Are Argentina and Portugal equally reliant on Messi and Ronaldo?
No players have shaped their national teams quite like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, both of whom sit at the top of the all-time international scoring charts. Yet in recent years, both Argentina and Portugal have shown they can manage when their talisman is unavailable.
Over the past two years, Argentina played eight games without Messi, winning six and losing just two, both in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers. In that same window, Portugal played six games without Ronaldo, picking up four wins and two draws, with both nations demonstrating enough depth to cover for the absence of their respective legends.