​After England finally inched past Norway in a grueling quarter-final, the atmosphere around the national team remained far from serene. Jude Bellingham promptly pushed back at Thomas Tuchel’s critique in the wake of the 2-1 extra-time win. “I’m not satisfied with the players’ performance. We made the game incredibly difficult for ourselves,” England’s coach declared straight after the final whistle. You can watch his comments again in the accompanying video.
Shortly thereafter, a reporter in the mixed zone pressed Bellingham on whether that represented the standard Tuchel expects from his players: “Maybe. But maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play under these conditions against Erling Haaland, Ødegaard, Nusa, Sörloth. It’s not easy to play against this team.” For Bellingham, this acknowledgment underscored why he could only offer praise for his teammates. Referring to Tuchel’s criticisms, the Real Madrid midfielder added: “We tried to create a positive atmosphere, and we should take that into the semi-finals.”
He concluded with a pragmatic assessment: “You can’t win every game by moving the ball around and playing 1,000 passes. Sometimes you have to win ugly too — and that’s exactly what we did.” A little later, Tuchel attempted to temper the situation at the press conference. “With all my heart, I love my players and my team, but we can play better. There are many things we can do better,” England’s coach explained.
From this exchange, it’s clear the dialogue between coach and players is still unfolding, and the last word has not yet been spoken. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in German here.