“How can you ask about mentality now? This is pure mentality,” Thomas Tuchel said after his team’s July 11 victory over Norway

NEED TO KNOW

• Soccer manager Thomas Tuchel had an intense interview after England defeated Norway at the World Cup on July 11
• “How can you ask about mentality now? This is pure mentality,” he told a reporter after his team’s 2-1 victory
• England will next play Argentina in the semifinals on July 15

Thomas Tuchel, the manager of England’s national soccer team, had an intense interview after his team’s win at the World Cup. 

“We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today,” Tuchel said after England’s 2-1 win over Norway in the quarterfinals on Saturday, July 11. 

“The result is fantastic. We’re in the last four. It’s amazing, but I’m not happy with the performance,” he continued, noting that his team played “sloppy” and made “a lot of technical mistakes.” 

When British TV journalist Gabriel Clarke asked if the players suffered from a “mentality thing” given the occasion, he grew heated. 

England manager Thomas Tuchel with a heated postgame interview, discussing his team's mentality after its Quarterfinal win pic.twitter.com/1fYdHZtdJ8

— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 12, 2026

“It’s not mentality. This is pure mentality. How can you ask about mentality now? This is pure mentality. It’s not about mentality,” Tuchel replied with a look of disbelief. 

Clarke repeated his question, asking, “When the players had the problem, was that the mentality? What was it?”

“There’s no mentality problem. This is pure mentality. This is pure mentality. You can bottle it up and sell it,” the manager said.

“It’s the quality of our games. That’s it. It has nothing to do with mentality,” he added. 

Tuchel continued to praise several of his players, including Reece James, Morgan Rogers, Eberechi Eze and Jude Bellingham.  

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He called Bellingham, who scored twice in the team’s quarterfinal victory, a “world-class” player. 

As for moving forward in the competition, the manager said, “We will get better. We will get better. We need to get better. Now it’s celebration, and now it’s taking it all in.”

“We have three days. We need everything. We need better performance,” he said.

Bellingham was asked about Tuchel being critical of the team’s performance during a post-game interview, and he said, “Maybe he doesn’t know what it what it’s like to play in those kind of conditions.”

“I think we’ve tried to create a positive environment. We should continue that going into the 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 1,000 passes. Sometimes you have to win dirty, and we’ve done that again tonight,” the star player continued.

England will next play Argentina during the semifinals at Atlanta Stadium in Georgia on July 15.

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