Tuchel admits England ‘lucky’ to reach World Cup semi-final after beating Norway

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The Football Faithful

·12 July 2026

Tuchel admits England ‘lucky’ to reach World Cup semi-final after beating Norway

Thomas Tuchel admits that England are “lucky” to be in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals after making life “very difficult” for themselves against Norway.

The Three Lions came from behind to win 2-1 after extra-time in Miami on Saturday night and book their place in the last four.

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Norway deservedly went ahead in the first half when Andreas Schjelderup’s cross went in off the post. They could have doubled their lead when Alexander Sorloth was released on the break, but he squandered the chance and had his shot blocked when Erling Haaland was free through the middle.

England equalised on the stroke of halftime, but there was an air of controversy to the goal. Anthony Gordon won the ball from Norway’s goal kick before playing in Jude Bellingham, who did excellently to score past four defenders. However, replays showed that the ball may have bounced off the cable wire attached to the aerial camera, which should have resulted in a drop ball.

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Torbjørn Heggem thought he had put Norway back in front in the second half, but it was ruled out following a VAR check after Erling Haaland was judged to have pushed over Elliot Anderson in the buildup.

England held on for extra time, at which point their superior depth told. Morgan Rogers’ long-range effort was palmed back into the area by Ørjan Nyland and Bellingham was there to strike home.

Referee Clement Turpin pointed to the spot shortly after when Djed Spence was seemingly fouled by Oscar Bobb in the box, but Turpin reversed his decision after reviewing it on the pitchside monitor.

An exhausted Erling Haaland was taken off at halftime as Norway struggled to create chances while chasing a goal. They played well enough in normal time to win the game, but ultimately are going home after their best ever performance at a World Cup.

Tuchel admits England ‘lucky’ to reach World Cup semi-final

When it was put to Tuchel that he had previously talked about the team suffering this summer, he told ITV: “I didn’t talk about suffering. I never did. We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today. The result is fantastic. We are in the last four. It’s amazing but not happy with the performance, in every sense.

“The commitment is there but we made life difficult for us in the way we played and how we played; sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough. We were lucky today.”

Tuchel responded with incredulity when he was asked if England’s subpar performance was an issue with mentality.

“It’s not the mentality,” he said. “This is pure mentality. It’s not about mentality. You can bottle it up and sell it. It’s about the quality; we need to play better.”

England’s superior depth told in the end as Tuchel once again made the changes that turned the game in their favour.

“Reece James was excellent. Morgan Rogers was fantastic today. Eberechi Eze and Djed Spence grew into the game. Full credit to them. Overall we got lucky today.”

Not for the first time this summer, Bellingham bailed England out when they needed him most. The Real Madrid midfielder has scored six goals in the World Cup, level with Harry Kane.

“Enough said,” Tuchel added. “He does it every single match. World class.”

When Bellingham was told that Tuchel was “not happy” with England’s performance, he replied: “Yeah well, whatever. It’s difficult out there, it’s a tough shift. All the players have put in a tough shift. My thoughts and appreciation goes to the players out there who put in a great shift.”

England now head to Atlanta where they will face either Argentina or Switzerland on Wednesday for just their fourth ever World Cup semi-final appearance.

“We will get better,” Tuchel promised. “We need to. Now it’s celebration. Now it’s taking it all in. We have three days. We need everything.”

Read – Ranking the World Cup favourites as we reach quarter-finals