W/Cup: Angry Tuchel Calls England Lucky, Bellingham Rejects Attack

England booked their place in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals after a dramatic and incident-filled quarter-final victory over Norway in Miami, but the celebrations were overshadowed by manager Thomas Tuchel’s blunt assessment of his team’s performance.

The victory sends England into their fourth World Cup semi-final, having previously reached the last four as hosts in 1966 and later in Italy in 1990 and Russia in 2018.

They will now face Argentina in the semi-finals as they continue their pursuit of a second World Cup title.

French referee Clement Turpin brought an end to an exhausting contest that stretched into extra time, prompting jubilant scenes among England’s players and supporters.

Tuchel’s players collapsed to their knees in celebration after surviving a stern test from Norway, while fans danced in the stands.

Jude Bellingham accidentally clashed heads with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford during the celebrations, and captain Harry Kane led the squad in applauding the thousands of England supporters who had travelled to Florida.

Despite the memorable victory, Tuchel expressed frustration over what he considered an unacceptable display from his team.

“We got lucky,” he said after a quarter-final that saw Norway take the lead, miss a great chance to make it 2-0, have a goal disallowed and also hit the bar.

“We made life very, very difficult for ourselves. The result is fantastic. We are in the last four. It’s amazing but [I am] not happy with the performance – in every sense.

“We made life difficult for us in the way we played and how we played – sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough.”

The England manager insisted that his team’s resilience, rather than their football, secured progression to the semi-finals.

“This is pure mentality,” he said.

Tuchel’s criticism came despite England advancing through another difficult encounter in what has been a challenging tournament. Since opening their campaign with a 4-2 victory over Croatia, England have struggled to consistently impress.

They were held by Ghana, edged past Panama 2-0, recovered after falling behind against DR Congo before progressing, and then battled to a 3-2 victory over Mexico despite playing with 10 men.

The quarter-final followed a similar pattern, with Norway threatening throughout before England eventually prevailed.

Asked about his manager’s post-match criticism, Bellingham, who scored in the 47th and 93rd minutes to take his tournament tally to six goals, dismissed the comments while defending his teammates’ efforts.

“Yeah well, whatever.

“It’s difficult out there, it’s a tough shift. All the players have put in a tough shift. My thoughts and appreciation goes to the players out there who put in a great shift.”

Tuchel, however, maintained that his criticism reflected the standards he expects from a team capable of winning the World Cup.

“[There is] no disconnect from me to my team,” he said.

“With my heart, I am fully in love with my players and my team, but we can play better, there are a lot of things to do better.”

England now face a quick turnaround before meeting Argentina after enduring 122 gruelling minutes in hot and humid conditions against Norway.

Bellingham pointed to those demanding circumstances as he defended the team’s display and highlighted the quality of the opposition.

“Maybe he [Tuchel] doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those conditions against Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard, Antonio Nusa and Alexander Sorloth,” added Bellingham, who is averaging a goal a game at this World Cup after his double took his tally to six.

“They’re not an easy team to play against. I can’t speak highly enough of the lads.

“You can’t win every game popping the ball and making 1,000 passes, sometimes you have to win dirty and we did that today.”

While Tuchel’s comments appeared unusually harsh after such a significant victory, several former England internationals backed the manager’s honest assessment.

Former England captain Alan Shearer praised Tuchel’s willingness to openly criticise the performance rather than focus solely on the result.

“Over the years, we might have had someone come out and say that we stuck together and we were brilliant,” former England captain Alan Shearer told BBC Sport.

“You have to give him [Tuchel] credit for doing it – he was having none of that.”

Former England captain Wayne Rooney also agreed with Tuchel’s assessment, saying the manager was right to praise the team’s mentality while acknowledging that Norway had controlled large periods of the contest.

Rooney, who scored 53 goals in 120 appearances for England, said England’s German boss was “spot on in terms of the mentality”.

He added that the squad’s resilience proved decisive after Ezri Konsa suffered an injury and Declan Rice, who had been an injury doubt before the match, was substituted at the start of the second half.

“The character of the players has got them through that game because for large parts of that game Norway were the better team,” added Rooney.

Former England defender Matt Upson shared a similar view, admitting Norway appeared on course for victory before England’s late turnaround.

“It felt that [with] 25 minutes left before the end of the 90, Norway were going to win this game.”

England will now turn their attention to Argentina, with Tuchel hoping his side can combine the resilience that has carried them into the semi-finals with an improved performance as they seek to lift the World Cup for only the second time in their history.