Tuwail: We were overly cautious and lucky

England manager Thomas Tuchel said yesterday that his team was “lucky” after narrowly beating Norway 2-1 after extra time to reach the World Cup quarter-finals in North America, a result that sparked the frustration of two-goal scorer Jude Bellingham.

Tuchel was not in the mood to celebrate after securing England’s second victory following a comeback, thanks to a goal from Bellingham, in a tense match at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Speaking on the pitch shortly after his team’s win, the German said: “We made things extremely difficult for ourselves. The result is great, reaching the quarter-finals is amazing, but I am not happy with the performance.” He added: “The commitment was there, but our way of playing made things very difficult for us. Our style, how we played, was random, overly cautious, not fast enough, and not good enough. We were lucky.”

However, Tuchel stressed that his team needs to improve if they want to progress further in the tournament, saying: “We need to get better. Now is the time to celebrate and live in the moment; we have three days,” referring to the quarter-final match scheduled for next Wednesday.

When asked on ITV after the match, in which he was the hero for England by scoring two goals, Bellingham responded to Tuchel’s comments by saying: “Yes, well, it doesn’t matter. It’s tough on the pitch; it’s an exhausting match. All the players had an exhausting match. My thoughts and appreciation go to the players on the pitch who delivered a great performance.”