Thomas Tuchel cut an explosive figure at full-time as he clashed with ITV reporter Gabriel Clarke, demanding more from his England team minutes after booking just their fourth-ever World Cup semi-final with victory against Norway.
England were pushed into extra time against Erling Haaland and Co, Jude Bellingham finding an equaliser on the stroke of half-time after they had fallen behind.
Tuchel, a serial winner, had every right to criticise on a night when England were hanging on for long periods, got fortunate once when the first goal of Bellingham’s double arrived after the ball appeared to hit a camera cable in the build-up, and again when a second-half strike by the Scandinavians was ruled out when Haaland was judged to have pushed Eliot Anderson.
‘I didn’t talk about suffering,’ Tuchel corrected Clarke, in an indication of the firepower to come. ‘I never talked about suffering.
‘We made life very difficult for ourselves today. The result is amazing. But not happy with the performance.
‘In every sense,’ he said when asked what he was unimpressed with. ‘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.’
‘I don’t know, it’s not mentality,’ Tuchel said after Clarke queried whether it was the ‘mentality’ that had led to a drop in England’s level. ‘Mentality? This is pure mentality now! It’s not about mentality.
Thomas Tuchel cut an unhappy figure despite England booking another World Cup semi-final
Standout star Jude Bellingham was nonplussed by his manager’s assessment in his interview
‘There’s no mentality problem, this is pure mentality, you could bottle it up and sell it, it’s a quality of our games. It has nothing to do with mentality.’
Tuchel did at least agree that his substitutes had been ‘very good’.
‘Very good. Reece James was excellent, Morgan Rogers was excellent, Djed (Spence) grew into the game. Full credit to them, but we got lucky together today,’ he added.
‘We need to play better.’
On the topic of Bellingham’s genius, he agreed: ‘Enough said. He does it every match. World class.’
‘We will get better, we need to get better,’ Tuchel finished. ‘Now it’s a celebration, we have three days, we need everything, we need a better performance.’
Regardless, England are into the final four and, after their momentous, 10-man success in Mexico City, again found a way to win.
When queried about his manager’s interview, an ebullient Bellingham appeared to disagree with Tuchel’s assessment, having initially praised the group’s ‘quality’.
‘The manager’s actually not very happy,’ Clarke told Bellingham on the pitch, who simply replied: ‘Yeah well, whatever.’
‘Whatever. It’s difficult out there,’ he said. ‘It’s a tough shift. All the players have put in a very tough shift. So my thoughts and appreciation goes out to the players out there.’
Harry Kane admitted that Tuchel had voiced similar concerns to the players themselves, telling Clarke: ‘Yeah, he’s just said there in the changing room, obviously massive congratulations, we should enjoy it, but there’s a part of him that knows we can do better.
‘Which in a way is a good thing, we’re in a semi-final, knowing we can improve, still find another level, we’ve got to take that as a positive. We have the most important ingredients as a team, we’ve showed that there. If we can get ticking a little more, with the ball, with possession – we’ve got a couple of good games ahead.’
England initially fell behind in the first-half after Jordan Pickford fell victim to a wildly struck ball from Andreas Schjeldrup.
But Bellingham showed why he has been England’s standout as he provided the leveler to make it 1-1.
The Real Madrid star has now scored six goals at this World Cup and has dazzled for England
Fellow superstar Erling Haaland was forced to watch critical extra time from the subs bench
However, England’s equaliser did not come without controversy, as fans on social media appeared to notice a high ball striking the stadium’s spider cam before landing at Elliot Anderson’s feet.
Anderson then passed off to Anthony Gordon, who in turn set up Bellingham – but Norway fans were incensed after checking IFAB’s Laws of the Game, which state that if the ball strikes a ceiling or a fixture hanging over the pitch, and remains inside the field of play, the match must be halted.
But FIFA have disputed whether the ball did actually hit the cable, sharing on X: ‘Before England’s goal in minute 45+2 against Norway, the sensor in the Connected Ball showed no peak in the ‘heartbeat of the ball’ when in the air, and therefore no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wire and changed the movement of the ball.’
The footballs being used at the tournament are each fitted with a chip and utilise ‘connected ball technology’, which relays data directly to the VAR system.
The microchip produces accurate, instantaneous data on everything from ball movement, speed and trajectory to player touches, with adidas claiming the technology enables ‘faster in-game officiating decisions and more insight into gameplay than ever before.’
After the break, both sides failed to find the breakthrough, forcing extra time, and for Norway, the troubling substitution of their Striking Viking Haaland.
The Manchester City superstar could only watch from the bench as his former Borussia Dortmund team-mate Bellingham nabbed the winner – before England had a late penalty claim chalked off.
As has become custom, England celebrated their victory on the pitch with the travelling fans in the sticky Miami heat, singing along to Oasis’ Wonderwall.
How much is David Beckham set to pocket from his World Cup brand deals? Take on our quiz in our newsletter HERE
You must be logged in to post a comment Login