German coach Thomas Tuchel dropped a bombshell after the England national team qualified for the semi-finals of the 2026 World Cup with a thrilling 2-1 extra-time win over Norway at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, declaring his complete dissatisfaction with the Three Lions' performance, describing the play as 'weak' despite the historic achievement.

Tuchel said in fiery remarks to British channel ITV, during which he appeared very upset: 'We made things difficult for ourselves today. The result is wonderful. We have qualified for the semi-finals, it is incredible, but I am not satisfied with our performance in all aspects. The commitment is there, but we made things very difficult for ourselves because of the way we played.'

Tactical errors and lack of speed

The German coach added in a sharp tone: 'Tactical errors, lack of speed and consistency, we were lucky,' in a clear indication that qualification came thanks to luck more than convincing collective performance, despite Jude Bellingham's brace which saved the team from elimination.

Tuchel refused to talk about mentality as an excuse for the poor performance, saying sharply: 'Mentality? It is a matter of mentality, simply put, how do we talk about mentality now? It is not a mental problem, we can ignore it and justify it, why do we talk about mentality? The problem lies in the quality of our play, it is a matter of quality, we have to play better.'

Thrilling qualification amid scathing criticism

England had fallen behind to a brilliant goal by Norwegian Andreas Schjelderup in the 36th minute, before Bellingham equalized in stoppage time of the first half (45+2), then the Real Madrid midfielder secured qualification with his second goal at the start of extra time (94th minute).

England will meet in the semi-finals the winner of the match between Switzerland and Argentina.