Tuchel blasts 'lucky' and 'sloppy' England after Norway escape – but says 'mentality' got them through

England are in another World Cup semi-final, but head coach Thomas Tuchel is refusing to celebrate. After a dramatic 122-minute quarter-final win over Norway in Miami, Tuchel openly criticized his team's performance, calling them 'sloppy' and 'lucky' to advance. The match was chaotic: Norway took the lead, missed a golden chance to go 2-0 up, had a goal disallowed, and hit the crossbar. England needed extra time to finally overcome Erling Haaland and company, with Jude Bellingham scoring twice – in the 47th and 93rd minutes – to drag his team through. Yet Tuchel was unimpressed. 'We got lucky,' he said. 'We made life very, very difficult for ourselves. The result is fantastic. We are in the last four. It's amazing but I am not happy with the performance – in every sense.' He added: 'This is pure mentality.' Bellingham, who now has six goals in the tournament, shrugged off the criticism. 'Yeah well, whatever,' he replied. 'It's difficult out there, it's a tough shift. All the players have put in a tough shift. You can't win every game popping the ball and making 1,000 passes, sometimes you have to win dirty and we did that today.' The midfielder also took a subtle dig at his manager: 'Maybe he doesn't know what it's like to play in those conditions against Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard, Antonio Nusa and Alexander Sorloth. They're not an easy team to play against.' England's campaign has been far from smooth. After a 4-2 win over Croatia in the opening group game, they were held by Ghana, scraped past Panama 2-0, fell behind to DR Congo before rallying, and held on with 10 men to beat Mexico 3-2. In the quarter-final, they again relied on individual brilliance – this time from Bellingham – to escape. Ezri Konsa went off injured, and Declan Rice, a doubt before the game, was replaced at halftime. The team now has little recovery time before the semi-final in Atlanta. Several former England players, however, praised Tuchel's honesty. Alan Shearer told sources: 'Over the years, we might have had someone come out and say that we stuck together and we were brilliant. You have to give him credit for doing it – he was having none of that.' Wayne Rooney said Tuchel was 'spot on in terms of the mentality', noting the character shown as Konsa and Rice left the pitch. Matt Upson added: 'It felt that with 25 minutes left before the end of the 90, Norway were going to win this game.' But the question remains: can England rely on mentality alone to lift the World Cup for only the second time, or do they need to improve their performances?