After 8 years, England has returned to the World Cup semi-finals. However, the ticket to the next round did not come easily when coach Thomas Tuchel's team had to come back to defeat Norway after 120 minutes of play.
The Northern European team opened the score in the 36th minute thanks to Andreas Schjelderup's finish. In injury time of the first half, Jude Bellingham scored the equalizer 1-1, before completing a double at the beginning of the first extra time to seal a 2-1 victory for the "Three Lions".
Despite winning the right to enter the semi-finals, coach Tuchel still expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of his players.
I am not happy with the performance of the England team in every aspect. We were lucky," the German strategist said after the match.
According to coach Tuchel, England played inaccurately and made many mistakes in handling the ball, especially in the second half. He believes that the team made the match more difficult instead of controlling the game early.
We played too carelessly and made many technical mistakes. This does not stem from psychological factors. The England team needs to improve if they want to continue to go deep," he emphasized.
In fact, Norway created many chances in the second half and almost regained the lead when the ball hit the crossbar of Jordan Pickford's goal from a set piece situation. Only in extra time, goalkeeper Orjan Nyland's mistake created conditions for Bellingham to score the decisive goal.
Coach Tuchel also believes that England must maintain higher concentration in the upcoming matches.
We have made things more complicated ourselves. Entering the semi-finals is a positive result, but the whole team must try harder," he said.
Meanwhile, Jude Bellingham continues to become a bright spot of the England team. The Real Madrid midfielder scored both goals against Norway, thereby increasing his record to 4 goals in the last two matches at the 2026 World Cup.
Sharing after the match, Bellingham humbly affirmed that the victory did not belong to him personally.
This is a victory for the whole country, not just for us," the 23-year-old midfielder said.
In the semi-finals, England will face the winner of the remaining quarter-final match between Argentina and Switzerland. This is predicted to be a bigger challenge for coach Thomas Tuchel's team in their journey towards their first World Cup title since 1966.
