And England has made the semis for the 4th time in their history. After beating Norway 2-1, England will be facing the winner of Argentina-Switzerland in the semis. Although this is good news, manager and HC Thomas Tuchel is not happy with how the team played.
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“We made life very difficult for ourselves. The way we played was sloppy. A lot of technical mistakes. We were lucky today. It is nothing to do with mentality. We need to play better,” said Thomas Tuchel in the postgame interview.
The comments might sound harsh, but while England found another way through, the performance left plenty of questions.
Tuchel: “We made life very difficult for ourselves.
“The way we played was sloppy. A lot of technical mistakes. We were lucky today.
“It is nothing to do with mentality. We need to play better.”
— Chris Wheatley (@ChrisWheatley) July 11, 2026
Norway made their intentions clear early, and England never really got out from under them. Haaland climbed above the England defense to head Julian Ryerson’s cross straight at Pickford inside 35 minutes, and a minute later Patrick Berg stripped Kane of the ball near halfway to set up Schjelderup’s opener.
Ten minutes into the second half, it nearly got worse. Torbjørn Heggem turned home a corner, and Norway thought they’d doubled their lead, only for VAR to rule it out after Haaland was seen shoving Elliot Anderson in the build-up. Still, Norway kept pushing through Oscar Bobb and David Møller Wolfe, who later rattled the crossbar with Pickford beaten.
England spent most of the afternoon reacting rather than playing, and it took a moment out of nothing to change that: three minutes into extra time, Morgan Rogers’ long-range effort was spilled by Ørjan Nyland, and Bellingham reacted quickest to bury the rebound and send England through. So, while England finished with 52% possession and 0.96 xG, they never looked fully in control despite enjoying more of the ball.
That was exactly why Tuchel refused to blame mentality after the final whistle. He praised the commitment, but insisted the team played too slowly and made far too many careless mistakes.
Harry Kane also agreed with Tuchel, admitting that England still have another gear they have to unlock before going against tougher teams like Spain and France. Jude Bellingham, though, struck a more optimistic tone, praising the team’s character shown in tough games.
That belief has carried England this far, but stronger teams like Spain and France rarely forgive mistakes. Spain and France attack with greater speed, while every loose pass becomes an outlet for an attack. England cannot expect Bellingham or Kane to rescue every difficult situation once the margins start to get smaller with every game.
