Thomas Tuchel cut a furious figure on the Miami Stadium pitch on Saturday night. His England side had just booked a World Cup semi-final spot with a 2-1 extra-time win over Norway, but the manager was in no mood to celebrate.
“We made life very, very difficult for ourselves,” Tuchel told ITV’s Gabriel Clarke, his voice sharp with frustration. “Sloppy, mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough, we were lucky today.” Tuchel insisted it was not a mentality issue, snapping: “This is pure mentality, you can bottle it up and sell it. It has nothing to do with our mentality.”
“Tuchel slams England's 'lucky' win over Norway as Bellingham's double sends Three Lions to semi-finals.”
Norway had taken the lead through Andreas Schjelderup’s cross that caught Jordan Pickford out, the England keeper making history as the most-capped player for his country in World Cups but delivering an uncertain performance rated 5/10 by BBC Sport’s Alex Howell. Marc Guehi, nursing a hamstring issue, did a good job marshalling Erling Haaland and earned an 8, while Jude Bellingham – rated 9.5 – “has been dragging England through tough moments throughout this tournament”, according to Howell. Bellingham equalised in first-half stoppage time and scored again early in extra time to seal the win.
When told his manager was unhappy with the performance, Bellingham shrugged: “Whatever. It’s difficult out there. A tough shift. Character, perseverance, when things weren’t working we found a way to win a game.” He added: “So proud of this team.”
Tuchel praised substitutes Reece James, Morgan Rogers, Ebz (Eze) and Djed (Spence) for growing into the game, but conceded: “Overall we got lucky today.” England will now face either Switzerland or reigning champions Argentina in the semi-final in Atlanta on Wednesday night.