After reaching the stage as hosts in 1966, and then in Italy and Russia in 1990 and 2018, England have another World Cup semi-final to prepare for.
When French referee Clement Turpin signalled the end of an incident-filled quarter-final win in Miami, Thomas Tuchel’s exhausted players sank to their knees in celebration after being taken to extra time by Norway.
England’s fans danced in the stands, two-goal Jude Bellingham accidentally clashed heads with Jordan Pickford during the on-pitch celebrations, while captain Harry Kane lined up with his team-mates to acknowledge the thousands of fans who had made the long journey to Florida.
Yet Tuchel was far from impressed.
“We got lucky,” he said after a quarter-final that saw Norway take the lead, miss a great chance to make it 2-0, have a goal disallowed and also hit the bar.
“We made life very, very difficult for ourselves. The result is fantastic. We are in the last four. It’s amazing but [I am] not happy with the performance – in every sense.
“We made life difficult for us in the way we played and how we played – sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough.”
Tuchel suggested one thing had helped England advance.
“This is pure mentality,” he said.
When asked about his manager’s comments and criticism of the performance, Bellingham – who struck in the 47th and 93rd minutes – replied: “Yeah well, whatever.
“It’s difficult out there, it’s a tough shift. All the players have put in a tough shift. My thoughts and appreciation goes to the players out there who put in a great shift.”
England have struggled to set this World Cup alight since overcoming Croatia 4-2 in their first group game.
They were held by Ghana, did enough to get past Panama 2-0, fell behind to DR Congo before advancing and dug deep to see off Mexico 3-2 with 10 men.
And Tuchel said that while he “loves” the team, he also expects much more from them.
“[There is] no disconnect from me to my team,” he said.
“With my heart, I am fully in love with my players and my team, but we can play better, there are a lot of things to do better.”
Will they need to?
Will character and mentality be enough as England look to win the World Cup for only the second time – or do they need to improve with a semi-final against Argentina next?
