{"id":794970,"date":"2026-07-12T06:21:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T06:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/794970\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T06:21:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T06:21:48","slug":"jude-bellingham-unimpressed-after-tuchel-criticises-lucky-englands-performance-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/794970\/","title":{"rendered":"Jude Bellingham unimpressed after Tuchel criticises \u2018lucky\u2019 England\u2019s performance | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jude Bellingham hit back at criticism of England\u2019s performance from Thomas Tuchel after his two goals against Norway booked a place in the World Cup semi-finals<\/a> for the fourth time.<\/p>\n

A virtuoso display from the Real Madrid star inspired a comeback victory after Andreas Schjelderup had given Norway the lead, with Bellingham scoring a controversial equaliser just before half-time. Replays appeared to show a Norway goal-kick hitting an overhead cable in the buildup, although Fifa released a statement saying a sensor in the ball showed no evidence it had touched. Norway\u2019s coach, St\u00e5le Solbakken, said it was \u201cpretty clear\u201d it had<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bellingham pounced on a mistake from the Norway goalkeeper, \u00d8rjan H\u00e5skjold Nyland, in the third minute of extra time to score his sixth goal of the World Cup, two behind Lionel Messi \u2013 going into Argentina\u2019s quarter-final<\/a> \u2013 and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, and level with his captain, Harry Kane. But despite England reaching the semi-finals for the first time since 2018 under Gareth Southgate, Tuchel was clearly not happy with the performance and claimed his players had \u201cmade life very very difficult for ourselves\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result is fantastic, we are in the last four \u2013 it\u2019s amazing \u2013 but I\u2019m not happy with the performance,\u201d the head coach told ITV. \u201cIn every sense. Again the commitment is there but we made life very very difficult for ourselves in the way we played, how we played: sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough. We were lucky today.\u201d<\/p>\n

But asked to respond to that criticism, Bellingham was clearly not impressed. \u201cYeah, well, whatever. Whatever,\u201d he said, his body language also telling. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult out there. It\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed further in another post-match interview, Bellingham said: \u201cMaybe he doesn\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, [Martin] \u00d8degaard, [Antonio] Nusa, [Alexander] S\u00f8rloth. That\u2019s not an easy team to play against. So, I think we\u2019ve tried to create a positive environment. You\u2019re not going to win every game, popping the ball and making a thousand passes. Sometimes you have to win dirty, and we\u2019ve done that again tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude Bellingham jousts for the ball with Martin \u00d8degaard as Sander Berge watches. Photograph: Crist\u00f3bal Herrera\/EPA<\/p>\n

Asked whether he agreed with Tuchel\u2019s assessment that England<\/a> were lucky, he replied: \u201cNo comment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuchel later defended his comments and insisted that there was \u201cno disconnect\u201d with his players. \u201cI\u2019m impressed with the shift they put in and to overcome adversity,\u201d he said. \u201cThey cannot get enough praise for that. But I\u2019m also a football coach and we can play better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found the way to get through to the last four, which is of course the most important thing. The analysing head of me still thinks we have to play better. It\u2019s not a problem, but no disconnect for me and my team. Not 1%. I\u2019m full with my heart and fully in love with my players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harry Kane said Tuchel had been less than impressed with the performance but believes that could be exactly what England need if they are to reach a first men\u2019s World Cup<\/a> final on foreign soil.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe just said in the changing room: massive congratulations and we should enjoy it and celebrate but it still feels like there\u2019s a part of him that knows we can do better, which in a way is a good thing. If we are in the semi-final of a World Cup knowing we can still improve, still find another level, then we\u2019ve got to take that as a positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s Erling Haaland watches the second half of extra time from the bench. Photograph: Chris Carlson\/AP<\/p>\n

Haaland, who failed to score in a competitive international match for the first time since October 2024, was replaced for the second period of extra time and Solbakken said the striker sustained a dead leg in the second half. \u201cIt was not a tough decision because he was finished,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe I should have taken him off 10 minutes before.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jude Bellingham hit back at criticism of England\u2019s performance from Thomas Tuchel after his two goals against Norway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-794970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}