England progressed into the World Cup semi-final but Thomas Tuchel wasn’t impressed with the performance during the win over Norway
England head coach Thomas Tuchel hit back at ITV reporter Gabriel Clarke during a frosty post-match interview after their 2-1 win over Norway. The German tactician wasn’t happy with the performance as the Three Lions scraped through to the World Cup semi-final thanks to Jude Bellingham’s double.
A place in Atlanta against either Switzerland or defending champions Argentina awaits for the one-time winners. But they made it hard work for themselves as they had to come from behind in Miami. Andreas Schjelderup stunned England and millions at home when his cross bamboozled Jordan Pickford to break the deadlock 10 minutes before the break.
However, Bellingham got his first of the evening after combining with Anthony Gordon. The Real Madrid star moved level on goals with captain Harry Kane in the race for the Golden Boot in extra time, which proved to be the difference. However, despite the joyous scenes in Florida, Tuchel wasn’t best pleased with the showing from his side.
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He said: “I didn’t talk about suffering, we made life very difficult for ourselves. The result is fantastic, last four is amazing but not happy with the performance. In every sense, the commitment is there but we made life difficult in how we played, sloppy, not fast enough, not repetitive enough, we were lucky today.”
Despite being irked by the display across 120 minutes from his side, he was quick to defend them and when asked about the mentality of his Three Lions, the England boss was left aghast.
Tuchel said: “Mentality? This is pure mentality. How can you ask about mentality now? This is pure mentality. It’s not about mentality. It’s not a mentality problem, you can bottle this up and sell it. It’s the quality of our games, that’s it. Nothing to do with mentality.”
Torbjorn Heggem’s goal before the hour-mark was chalked off for a foul before a corner kick was taken when Erling Haaland was adjudged to have shoved Elliot Anderson to ground.
Pickford made a reflex save but Heggem was on hand to power into the roof of the net. However, Clement Turpin went over to the monitor and found that the soon-to-be Manchester City midfielder was fouled by his future teammate.
Bellingham was on hand to power home to give England the advantage for the first time in the contest three minutes in to extra-time. They thought they had the chance to double their advantage nine minutes later when Djed Spence’s fine work down the right resulted in a tangle with Oscar Bobb. But Turpin was instructed to go to the monitor once more, overturning his decision.
The Three Lions match-winner didn’t wish to be drawn on Tuchel’s disappointment for the showing. He said: “Yeah, well, whatever. Whatever. It’s difficult out there, it’s a tough shift, all the players put in a tough shift, all my appreciation goes towards the players.
“Game by game, next is Argentina or Switzerland, we approach it with the same mentality and see what happens.”