Jude Bellingham luister na die skare sing. (Photo: Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP)
It was one of those goosebumps moments when thousands of English football fans broke loose in Miami in the USA on Saturday night with “Hey Jude”, The Beatles’ hit song.
It was shortly after Jude Bellingham and his England teammates reached the semi-finals of this year’s World Cup tournament.
When the French referee, Clément Turpin, blew the final whistle in Miami on Saturday night after a quarter-final match against Norway, the exhausted players fell to their knees in joy after they could only eliminate the Norwegians after extra time (122 minutes) with 2-1.
The English supporters screamed, danced, hugged each other in the pavilions and then broke off with “Hey Jude”.
Bellingham looked slightly stunned at the England fans in the packed pavilions as they chanted.
Then he clenched his fists, threw his arms in the air and blew kisses to the fans – mission accomplished.
The emotion and tears in Jude Bellingham’s eyes listening to “HEY JUDE” for all his fans.
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— (fan) REAL MADRID FANS ???? (@AdriRM33) July 12, 2026
England play Argentina on Wednesday night in Atlanta, who also eliminated Austria 3-1 in extra time.
In Tuesday night’s first semi-final match in Texas, France plays Spain.
But despite the England team’s victory, their embattled German coach Thomas Tuchel was anything but impressed.
Maybe he’s trying to mess with his players’ heads, because why complain when your team on the big stage could only reach the semi-finals of a World Cup for the third time since 1966?
After England won the tournament in 1966 and reached the semi-finals again in Italy in 1990 and in Russia in 2018, the English team has yet another World Cup semi-final to prepare for.
“We were happy,” Tuchel told the BBC after a quarter-final in which Norway took the lead, wasted an excellent chance to make it 2-0, had a goal disallowed and also hit the crossbar.
“We’ve made it very, very difficult for ourselves. The result is fantastic. We’re in the last four. It’s incredible, but I’m not happy with the performance, in any way.
“We made it difficult for ourselves … sloppy, a lot of technical errors, not fast enough and not consistent enough.”
Tuchel added that one thing helped England get through.
“It’s pure mindset,” he said.
the whole stadium and his teammates singing “hey Jude”… goosebumps.
a real football legend at 23 pic.twitter.com/bFN4pvbSQw— han (@rmafcs) July 12, 2026
When asked about his coach’s comments and criticism of the team’s performance, Bellingham, who scored goals in the 47th and 93rd minutes, replied:
“Yes, whatever.
“Maybe he (Tuchell) doesn’t know how it feels to play against Erling Haaland, Martin Ødegaard, Antonio Nusa and Alexander Sørloth in such circumstances,” added Bellingham.
“They’re not an easy team to play against. I can’t praise the guys enough.
“You can’t win every game by just passing the ball around and making 1,000 passes. Sometimes you have to win the hard way, and that’s exactly what we did today.”
Tuchel’s comments after the match were praised by several former England players.
Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers shortly after the final whistle. (Photo: Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP)
“Over the years we might have had someone come out and say we stood together and were brilliant,” former England captain Alan Shearer told BBC Sport.
“You have to give him credit for that – he didn’t want to know anything about it.”
Wayne Rooney, who scored 53 goals in 120 games for England, said England’s German coach was “absolutely right about the mindset”.
Rooney said the team showed character after Ezri Konsa was carried off the field injured and Declan Rice, who had been subject to injury questions before the game, was replaced at the start of the second half.
“The character of the players carried them through that game because for large parts of the game Norway were the better team,” added Rooney.
Bron: BBC
