England national team coach Thomas Tuchel speaks to Englishman Jude Bellingham (10) during the World Cup Round of 32 soccer match between England and Congo in Atlanta, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo)
Jude Bellingham appeared surprised after learning that England coach Thomas Tuchel was unhappy with the team’s performance despite beating Norway 2-1 in extra time in the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals.England booked their place in the semi-finals in Miami, with Bellingham scoring both goals. While the players celebrated on the pitch, Tuchel made it clear in his post-match interview that he was not satisfied with the overall performance.
The England coach said: “I am not happy with the performance…“We made life very difficult for ourselves today.”“The result is great, we have reached the semi-finals, it is amazing, but we are not happy with the performance.
“The commitment is there but we made life very difficult for us with the way we played.”“Sloppy, too many technical errors, not fast enough, not frequent enough. We were lucky today.” Tuchel said after the match.Tuchel was then asked if the pressure of the occasion had affected his players.He rejected the suggestion, saying: “It is not a mental problem, this is pure mentality.”“How can you ask about the mentality now? This is pure mentality, you can stack it and sell it.
It’s the quality of our games. That’s it. “It has nothing to do with mentality.”Later, during his post-match interview with ITV, Bellingham was informed of Tuchel’s comments. The midfielder looked frustrated, responded by rolling his eyes and saying: “Whatever.”Then he added: “It’s tough out there. It’s been a tough transition.”Bellingham also praised his teammates for the effort they put in during the match.When asked about Tuchel’s comments, the Real Madrid midfielder said: “Maybe he doesn’t know what it takes to play in those conditions against Erling Haaland, Noosa, Sorloth, that’s not an easy team to play against.“I think we tried to create a positive environment and we must continue that until the semi-finals.”“I can’t think highly of the players. You’re not going to win every game after making thousands of passes, sometimes you have to win dirty.”