England 2 Norway 1: Jude Bellingham shows world class talent and then disagrees with Thomas Tuchel

Having been given a scare by the Democratic Republic of Congo and overcome adversity to knock out co-hosts Mexico, the back-to-back European Championship finalists were made to sweat in Florida.

England have not done things the easy way this summer and had to dig deep once again after Jordan Pickford misjudged Andreas Schjelderup’s cross-shot to give Norway hope of a historic semi-final spot.

But Bellingham, like so often this summer, sparkled for his country and slammed home a leveller just before the break.

Tuchel’s stuttering side survived a poor second half, with Torbjorn Heggem seeing a goal ruled out and Kristoffer Ajer hitting the crossbar, before the Real Madrid star capitalised on Orjan Nyland’s error.

Bellingham’s sixth of the tournament was his most important to date, sealing a place in Wednesday’s Atlanta semi-final against Argentina as England kept their quest to add a second star alive.

What they said

Thomas Tuchel

Thomas Tuchel says England must play better if they are to win the World Cup after riding their luck in Saturday’s narrow quarter-final victory against Norway.

Jude Bellingham followed his equaliser with an extra-time winner in a tense 2-1 triumph that leaves the team just two matches away from joining Sir Alf Ramsey’s 1966 heroes in immortality.

England were far from their best in the Miami heat and fell behind to an Andreas Schjelderup cross-shot, with Norway having numerous opportunities to score again.

Meticulous Tuchel said he was “not happy with the performance” – something that got under the skin of Bellingham – but he says they need more in Wednesday’s semi-final against Argentina.

Put to him that Bellingham felt the players had put in a good shift in challenging conditions, the England boss said: “Absolutely, no one disputes that. I am impressed with the shift that they put in.

“The effort, team spirit, the belief and to overcome adversity and to dig in and find ways to win is on the absolutely highest level. They cannot get enough praise for that.

“But I’m also a football coach and I think we can play better. In general, I think it was not a high-level game. I think we had better games in general.”

He continued: “We had a lot of momentum swings for both teams, so, yeah, full credit to the team. We found a way. We’re in the last four.

“This is, of course, the most important but the analysing head of me and the football coach in me still thinks that we can and have to play better football.”

Jude Bellingham

The Real Madrid star did not take that lying down and challenged his manager’s view.

“Maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, (Martin) Odegaard, (Antonio) Nusa, (Alexander) Sorloth.

“That’s not an easy team to play against.

“So, I think we’ve tried to create a positive environment.

“We should continue that going into the final four. I can’t speak highly enough of the lads.

“You’re not going to win every game, popping the ball and making a thousand passes. Sometimes you have to win dirty, and we’ve done that again tonight.”

Asked whether he agreed with Tuchel’s assessment that England were lucky, he replied: “No comment.”

Tuchel responded to Bellingham’s comments and insisted there is no disconnect between him and the players.

“Absolutely, no one disputes that. I am impressed with the shift that they put in,” he said, referring to playing in searing heat.

“The effort, team spirit, the belief and to overcome adversity and to dig in and find ways to win is on the absolutely highest level. They cannot get enough praise for that.

“But I’m also a football coach and I think we can play better.

“In general, I think it was not a high-level game. I think we had better games in general.”