‘He doesn’t really know…’: England’s Bellingham and Tuchel in war of words | Football News

3 min readJul 12, 2026 09:13 AM After surviving a brawl with Norway in the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals in Miami, members of the England camp seem to pick up fights among themselves. England coach Thomas Tuchel and double goalscorer Jude Bellingham seemed to very publicly disagree with each other in comments they both gave after the Three Lions made it to the World Cup semi-finals.
It all started with a rather contentious interview Thomas Tuchel did on the pitch with Fox Sports, where he complained about his team.
“We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today,” Tuchel said in a with . “The result is fantastic. We’re in the last four. It’s amazing, but not happy with the performance … in every sense. The commitment is there but we made life very, very difficult for ourselves with how we played. Lot of technical makes, not fast enough, sloppy! We were lucky today.”
When he was asked if it was a mentality issue, a rather agitated Tuchel pushed back: “Mentality? How can you ask about mentality now? You can bottle it and sell it. This is pure mentality!”
Tuchel clarified in his news conference later on that he was “proud and happy” with how his squad has overcome adversity, but added, “I’m also a football coach and I also have demands. … I think we can play faster. I think we can play more clinical.”
When his coach’s comments were put in front of Bellingham, the forward clapped back.
“Maybe he doesn’t really know what it’s like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard… That’s not an easy team to play against. We have tried to create a positive environment and we should continue that going into the final four. Can’t speak highly enough for the lads. You’re not going to win every game making a thousand passes. Sometimes you have to win dirty. We did that tonight.” Story continues below this ad
England’s win came in the heat and humidity of South Florida, with temperatures reaching 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Celsius) at the start of warmups.
“Well, whatever,” Bellingham said, shaking his head in another interview when asked about Tuchel’s comments. “It’s difficult out there. It’s a tough shift. My thoughts and appreciation goes to the players out there who put in a great shift.”