At Wembley, Cole Palmer played an hour for England as they were beaten 1-0 by Japan, their first ever loss to a side from Asia.

Deployed by Thomas Tuchel in a floating no.10 role, Palmer did his utmost to try and pick holes in a well-organised Japan backline. He also caused some problems from a couple of early set-pieces, but it was the visitors who broke the deadlock, Brighton's Kaoru Mitoma finishing a rapid counter-attack midway through the first half.

Elliot Anderson hit the bar and so too did Japan before the break. Palmer was replaced with 58 minutes on the clock and it was subs Marcus Rashford, Harry Maguire and Lewis Hall who came closest to equalising on a frustrating evening for the Three Lions.

In another friendly between two teams heading to the World Cup, the Netherlands and Ecuador played out a 1-1 draw with both Jorrel Hato and Moises Caicedo involved.

Caicedo completed the full game in midfield for Ecuador, while Hato was brought on with 13 minutes remaining, earning his first senior cap since last March in the process.

An early own goal gave the Dutch the lead but their evening was made harder when Denzel Dumfries was sent off in the 12th minute for a last-man challenge.

Ecuador levelled soon after through a penalty from Enner Valencia, and the South American side were dominant thereafter but could not break through again despite their man advantage, the Dutch’s dogged defending in Eindhoven rewarded.

Mamadou Sarr helped Senegal beat Gambia 3-1 in Dakar. Our man lined up in a three-man defence as the Lions of Teranga’s good form continued ahead of the World Cup.

Abdoulaye Seck, Ibrahim Mbaye and Lamine Camara got their goals, with Nicolas Jackson an unused substitute.

Josh Acheampong played the full game while Tyrique George was introduced off the bench for the final half-hour as England Under-21s returning to winning ways with a 4-1 victory over Moldova at Carrow Road.

Lee Carsley’s side, winners of the last two Euros but surprisingly held by Andorra on Friday, included Acheampong in the heart of defence from the off. Ethan Nwaneri gave England an early lead but despite plenty of pressure and attempts on goal, the Moldovans stunned them with an equaliser three minutes into the second half.

George was brought off the bench and England quickly restored their lead through Archie Gray. Nwaneri then got his second of the game and the scoreline was given a fairer reflection of the contest when Romain Esse netted late on.

The result keeps the reigning champions top of their group in qualification for next summer’s Euros in Albania and Serbia with three fixtures to play.

At Under-19 level, Chris Atherton played an hour for the Republic of Ireland as they were beaten 2-1 by Italy in a European Championship qualifier.