Why Tuchel is unhappy with England’s performance despite Norway victory
England coach Thomas Tuchel has expressed his disappointment at the team’s performance despite the 2-1 win over Norway to qualify for the 2026 World Cup semi-finals.
Andreas Schjelderup gave Norway the lead in the 36th minute before Bellingham equalised late in the first half.
The Real Madrid midfielder scored a late winner in extra time to send England through to the semi-finals.
Norway dominated the second half, seeing a second goal disallowed for an Erling Haaland foul and also hit the bar through Kristoffer Ajer.
Tuchel was disappointed with his team’s performance in the encounter, claiming that they were lucky to advance to the last four.
He said: “We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today. The result is fantastic, we’re in the last four. It’s amazing. I’m not happy with the performance.
“In every sense. The commitment is there but we made life very, very difficult for us in the way we played, how we played. Sloppy, tactical mistakes, not fast enough. Not repetitive enough. We were lucky enough.
“We will get better, we need to get better. Now it’s celebrations. Now it’s taking it all in. We need everything to make a better performance.”
Tuchel admitted the players put up a shift in the encounter compared to their last match against Mexico.
He added: “Absolutely, no one disputes that. I am impressed with the shift that they put in.
“The effort, team spirit, the belief and to overcome adversity and to dig in and find ways to win is on the absolutely highest level. They cannot get enough praise for that.
“But I’m also a football coach and I think we can play better. In general, I think it was not a high-level game. I think we had better games in general.”
Read Also: England into World Cup semis after comeback against Norway
He continued: “We had a lot of momentum swings for both teams, so, yeah, full credit to the team. We found a way. We’re in the last four.
“This is, of course, the most important but the analysing head of me and the football coach in me still thinks that we can and have to play better football.”
Meanwhile, matchwinner Jude Bellingham disagreed with Tuchel while heaping praises on his teammates for their performance against Norway.
He said: “It’s difficult out there. It’s a tough shift. All the players are putting in a tough shift. So my thoughts and appreciation go to the players who put in a good shift out there.
“Maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, (Martin) Odegaard, (Antonio) Nusa, (Alexander) Sorloth. That’s not an easy team to play against.
“So, I think we’ve tried to create a positive environment. We should continue that going into the final four. I can’t speak highly enough of the lads.
“You’re not going to win every game, popping the ball and making a thousand passes. Sometimes you have to win dirty, and we’ve done that again tonight.”
Asked whether he agreed with Tuchel’s assessment that England were lucky, he replied: “No comment.”
England are the first team to keep Erling Haaland from scoring in a competitive international match since Austria on 13th October 2024 (636 days ago).
Bellingham is the second-youngest player to score 2+ goals in successive FIFA World Cup knockout stage games behind only Pelé in 1958 (17y 249d).
England will take on Argentina in the semi-finals at the Atlanta Stadium on Wednesday for a place in the final.
