Jude Bellingham hits back at Tuchel as England boss slams 'lucky' players in furious outburst

England beat Norway 2-1 to make it to the semi finals of the World Cup, but manager Thomas Tuchel wasn't best pleased with the performance as he said he thought his players had been 'lucky' on the night.

Norway opened the scoring through Andreas Schjelderup with what looked like a cross gone awry into the corner of England's goal, before Jude Bellingham got one back just before half time.

There was some controversy over that goal as there have been claims the ball struck an overhead cable from a Norwegian goal kick, but dear reader I have watched clips of this alleged moment two dozen times and I really cannot see what they're talking about.

FIFA have insisted the ball's sensor, which is sensitive enough to detect a Croatian hairdo, made no indication that it hit anything on the way from a Norway boot to an England one.

Despite this a conspiracy theory that the game was somehow rigged in England's favour has started doing the rounds among people who appear not to have heard of gravity, backspin or the knuckleball.

In the second half Norway got the ball in the net from a corner, a goal that was disallowed because pushing your arms right out and shoving people to the ground is what we call a 'foul', and things went to extra time.

Three minutes into extra time a fierce shot from Morgan Rogers was deflected but not caught by Orjan Nyland, and Bellingham pounced on the rebound to score the winner.

Speaking after the game, England manager Thomas Tuchel said his team had been 'lucky', praising the mentality of his players but saying he wanted more from the performance.

He'd said: "We made life very difficult for ourselves today. The result is fantastic, we’re in the last four, it’s amazing, but no, I’m not happy with the performance.

“In every sense. The commitment is there but we made life very difficult for us, in the way we played, how we played. Sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough. We were lucky today."

"Not happy with the performance..."

Thomas Tuchel calls for more from his players after England's 2-1 win over Norway...

🎙️ @gabrielclarke05 pic.twitter.com/y6yoHqfF8x

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 11, 2026

Getting into a bit of a row (an argument, not the Norwegian synchronised celebration) with ITV's Gabriel Clarke, Tuchel said his players had a great mentality but he wanted to see more quality in the semi final.

He said: "This is pure mentality, how can you ask about mentality? There is no mentality problem, this is pure, you can bottle it up and sell it.

"It’s nothing to do with mentality. The quality of our game. It’s nothing to do with mentality. We will get better. We need to get better."

When asked about Tuchel's comments, Bellingham didn't want to say much about it and spoke dismissively.

“Yeah, well, whatever. Whatever,” he said when Clarke tried putting Tuchel's comments to the goalscorer, with Bellingham keeping his response calm and measured.

“It’s difficult out there. It’s a tough shift. All the players have put in a tough shift, so my thoughts and appreciation goes to the players who were out there and put in a great shift yet again.”

Speaking further on the game in in a different post-match interview he did seem to push back a bit more against his manager's reaction to the performance before going on to praise his teammates.

He said: "Maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, Odegaard, Nusa, Sorloth.

“That’s not an easy team to play against. So, I think we’ve tried to create a positive environment.

“We should continue that going into the final four. I can’t speak highly enough of the lads.

“You’re not going to win every game, popping the ball and making a thousand passes. Sometimes you have to win dirty, and we’ve done that again tonight.”

When asked if England had been lucky to win against Norway, Bellingham said 'no comment'.

"My thoughts and appreciation go to the players" 🗣️

Jude Bellingham bats off Thomas Tuchel's 'not happy' comment after England progress to the World Cup semi finals pic.twitter.com/fBKsxHJ8RB

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 12, 2026

Tuchel said he was ' impressed with the shift' from his players, saying their ability to find a win in tough conditions was 'on the absolutely highest level'.

"They cannot get enough praise for that," the manager said.

“But I’m also a football coach and I think we can play better. In general, I think it was not a high-level game. I think we had better games in general.

"We had a lot of momentum swings for both teams, so, yeah, full credit to the team. We found a way. We’re in the last four.

“This is, of course, the most important but the analysing head of me and the football coach in me still thinks that we can and have to play better football.”

The manager said that Bellingham had given a 'world class performance from a world class player', so the manager is obviously happy with his player's efforts on the pitch.

Tuchel also said there was 'no disconnect' with his players, saying he was 'full with my heart and fully in love with my players'.

England captain Harry Kane shed a bit more light on what else Tuchel said to them after the game, saying that the manager's belief the players could do better was a 'good thing'.

Kane on Tuchel's team talk:

"He just said in the changing room, 'massive congratulations and we should enjoy it and celebrate' but it still feels like there’s a part of him that knows we can do better, which in a way is a good thing.

"We are in the semi-final of a World Cup knowing we can still improve, still find another level, then we’ve got to take that as a positive."

England's semi final opponents are Argentina, who beat Switzerland 3-1 after extra time to set up a 15 July clash in Atlanta.