Thomas Tuchel was involved in a heated post-match interview with ITV after England’s World Cup 2026 quarter-final win over Norway. The England boss was far from pleased despite progression to the semi-finals.
Comeback victory in Miami
The Three Lions came from behind to beat Norway in Miami on Saturday night, with Jude Bellingham scoring the winning goal in the first period of extra-time. Bellingham pounced on a mistake from goalkeeper Orjan Nyland to seal the 2-1 victory. He had earlier put England back on level terms on the stroke of half-time, cancelling out Andreas Schjelderup’s effort in the 36th minute that deceived Jordan Pickford.
VAR controversy and Haaland foul
Tuchel’s side were grateful for a VAR review in the second half as Torbjorn Heggem’s goal was disallowed. The decision came after Erling Haaland was adjudged to have fouled Elliot Anderson before a corner had been taken. Ultimately, England held on to set up a World Cup semi-final against either Argentina or Switzerland in Atlanta next week.
Tuchel’s furious response
Despite the victory, Tuchel was visibly furious with ITV reporter Gabriel Clarke’s line of questioning. When asked if the display was linked to mentality, Tuchel snapped: "I don't know. It's not the mentality. 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." Tuchel added: "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 ourselves 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."
