Tuchel: Not Satisfied with Performance, Bellingham is World-Class

England manager Thomas Tuchel expressed satisfaction with reaching the semifinals of the 2026 World Cup but harshly criticized his team's performance in their 2-1 extra-time victory over Norway.

In comments to ITV, Tuchel said, "I never talked about suffering, but we made our lives very difficult today. The result is great because we reached the semifinals, which is amazing, but I am not happy with the performance at all."

He added, "The players showed commitment, but we complicated things with the way we played. We made too many technical mistakes and were not quick or consistent enough. Honestly, we were lucky today."

The German coach refused to link the performance to mental aspects, clarifying, "It's not about mentality. This group has a strong mentality already, but the issue was the quality on the pitch. We need to play better."

Tuchel praised the substitutes who contributed during the match, stating, "Reece James was excellent, Morgan Rogers had a great game, and Eberechi Eze and Jaidon Spence improved gradually as the match went on. All credit to them, but overall we were lucky."

He concluded his remarks about man of the match Jude Bellingham, who scored both winning goals: "He doesn't need much talking about. He does it in every game, a world-class player."