Tuchel reaches first England World Cup semi-final since 2018 but demands more after scrappy Norway win

Thomas Tuchel became the first manager to lead England to a World Cup semi-final since 2018, yet he left Miami Stadium on Saturday dissatisfied after a scrappy 2-1 extra-time win over Norway secured their place in the last four of the 2026 tournament. Jude Bellingham scored both goals to rescue the Three Lions, but Tuchel was blunt in his post-match assessment.

“The result is fantastic, we’re in the last four, but, not a performance,” Tuchel said. “We were lucky today.”

The German coach was quick to separate effort from execution. He had no complaints about his players’ commitment or mentality — a recurring criticism of England squads in years past — but pointed squarely at the quality of their play on the night.

“The commitment is there, but it made life very difficult for us in the way we played, how we played, sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough,” Tuchel said. “It’s nothing to do with mentality, it’s about quality, we need to play better.”

On the subject of mentality, Tuchel was emphatic that the old narrative no longer applies to this group. “It’s a pure mentality thing, there was no mentality problem. You could bottle it up and sell it,” he said.

Bellingham’s brace was the decisive factor on a difficult evening, and Tuchel had little hesitation in assessing his midfielder’s contribution. “Enough said. He does it every single match. World Class,” the coach said.

Tuchel is now only the fourth manager in history to take England to a World Cup semi-final. England will face the winner of Argentina versus Switzerland on Wednesday at Atlanta Stadium.