England have been fiercely criticized on American TV for their ‘really poor’ display against Norway despite reaching the World Cup semifinals on Saturday night.
Thomas Tuchel’s side snatched a 2-1 win in extra-time to book their place in the last four of the competition, with Jude Bellingham proving the hero in Miami.
Bellingham scored twice as the Three Lions came from behind to see off Norway, leveling the game just before halftime and popping up with the all-important winner three minutes into extra-time.
Yet despite the victory, England have been ripped apart by US pundit Mike Grella, who described them as ‘the world’s ugliest daughter’ after claiming the win was an unconvincing one.
‘The good news is you have two games left, semifinal and final, and you can actually win a World Cup for the first time since 1966. The bad news is you’re not very good at football,’ Grella said on CBS Sports.
‘You’re not good with the ball, you’re not good at transitions, you leave unbelievable spaces in between the lines. By English standards, it was a really poor performance. The impressive part is how poor you are and you’re able to get away with the win.
England have been fiercely criticized on US TV for their ‘really poor’ display against Norway
‘It’s like having the world’s ugliest daughter and saying, “You’re beautiful baby.”‘
While he wasn’t as brutal, England manager Tuchel was also critical of his side’s performance against Norway despite reaching the World Cup semifinals.
‘We made life very difficult for ourselves today. The result is amazing. But not happy with the performance,’ he said after the game.
‘In every sense. Again the commitment is there, but we made life very difficult for us in the way we played, how we played.
‘Sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough. We were lucky today.’
However, Tuchel did find praise for his side’s spirit on the night, commending them for getting the job done in a difficult match.
‘No one suggests that I’m not impressed with the shift that they put in, the effort, the spirit, the belief,’ he said.
Jude Bellingham scored twice as England booked their place in the World Cup semifinals
Thomas Tuchel was critical of his side’s performance on Saturday despite getting the victory
‘To overcome adversity and to dig in and to 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.’ ‘
There’s no doubt I’m proud, and I’m happy and I feel so connected to this team because they just do whatever it takes,’ Tuchel added.
‘They just refuse to lose. They overcome obstacles and adversity. But I also have demands. We want to bring out the best in us. In my head I am just not fully satisfied and I stand by that. I think we can play faster, we can play more clinical.
‘We had too many unforced errors and technical mistakes. We had some crucial moments where we got lucky so yeah – a lot of things to do better, which is not a problem.’
