England midfielder Jude Bellingham defended his team's performance after head coach Thomas Tuchel criticized their display in a 2-1 extra-time win over Norway in Miami.
The victory secured England's place in the World Cup semifinals.
Bellingham scored a controversial equalizer before half-time and netted the winner in the third minute of extra time.
Andreas Schjelderup had opened the scoring for Norway.
Tuchel told ITV he was unhappy with the overall performance despite the result.
"The result is fantastic, we are in the last four – it's amazing – but I'm not happy with the performance," he said.
The head coach pointed to technical errors and a lack of speed.
"We made life very very difficult for ourselves in the way we played: sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough.
We were lucky today," Tuchel added.
Tuchel later clarified that his criticism did not indicate a rift with the squad. "I'm impressed with the shift they put in and to overcome adversity," he said.
"They cannot get enough praise for that. But I'm also a football coach and we can play better."
He reaffirmed his bond with the team. "It's not a problem, but no disconnect for me and my team.
Not 1%. I'm full with my heart and fully in love with my players," Tuchel stated.
Bellingham dismissed the manager's complaints. "Yeah, well, whatever.
Whatever," he said. The Real Madrid player highlighted the physical demands of the match.
"It's difficult out there. It's a tough shift.
All the players have put in a tough shift, so my thoughts and appreciation goes to the players who were out there and put in a great shift yet again."
Bellingham suggested Tuchel lacked perspective on facing top Norwegian players in those conditions.
"Maybe he doesn't know what it's like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, [Martin] Ødegaard, [Antonio] Nusa, [Alexander] Sørloth.
That's not an easy team to play against."
He added, "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."
When asked if England were lucky, Bellingham replied, "No comment."
Captain Harry Kane revealed Tuchel shared his critical assessment with the squad after the match.
"He just said in the changing room: massive congratulations and we should enjoy it and celebrate but it still feels like there's a part of him that knows we can do better, which in a way is a good thing," Kane said.
Norway coach Ståle Solbakken commented on Erling Haaland's substitution before extra time due to injury. "It was not a tough decision because he was finished," Solbakken said.
He noted Haaland picked up a dead leg in the second half, adding, "Maybe I should have taken him off 10 minutes before."
