‘We got lucky’: Tuchel and Bellingham at odds after England scrape past Norway into semi-finals

Jude Bellingham hit back at Thomas Tuchel’s claim that England “got lucky” in their World Cup quarter-final win over Norway, telling reporters: “Yeah, well, whatever.” The Real Madrid star’s two goals—a controversial equaliser just before half-time and a 93rd-minute winner—booked England’s place in the semi-finals for the first time since 2018, but the performance left the head coach seething. Tuchel described his side as “sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough” after Andreas Schjelderup had given Norway the lead in Miami. The equaliser sparked fury from Norway, whose coach Ståle Solbakken said it was “pretty clear” the ball hit an overhead cable in the buildup, though Fifa released a statement saying a sensor in the ball showed no evidence it had touched. Tuchel was unsparing in his public assessment. “We got lucky. We made life very, very difficult for ourselves. The result is fantastic—we are in the last four—but I am not happy with the performance,” he told ITV. “This is pure mentality.” Bellingham, who also struck the winner after pouncing on a mistake by goalkeeper Ørjan Håskjold Nyland, defended his teammates. “It’s difficult out there. It’s a tough shift. All the players have put in a tough shift, so my thoughts and appreciation goes to the players,” he said. Pressed further, he added: “Maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, [Martin] Ødegaard, [Antonio] Nusa, [Alexander] Sørloth. That’s not an easy team to play against. Sometimes you have to win dirty, and we’ve done that again tonight.” England’s path to the last four has been rocky—held by Ghana, scraping past Panama 2-0, and falling behind to DR Congo—but they now face Argentina on Wednesday. Some observers credit Gareth Southgate, who blooded Bellingham and nurtured the leadership of Harry Kane and Jordan Pickford, for building a team that expects to go deep. “Southgate made this group of players love playing for England,” Andy Dunn wrote in the Mirror. “Tuchel has not yet taken England to another level.” With a semi-final against Lionel Messi’s Argentina looming, the question is whether character alone will be enough—or whether England must finally find a performance to match the result.