Томас Тухелийн удирдсан Англи улсын шигшээ баг Майами хотын халуун уур амьсгалд Норвегийг 2:1 харьцаагаар хожиж, шөвгийн наймын давааг амжилттай давлаа.
Тоглолтын эхний хагаст Андреас Шелдеруп Норвегийн төлөө гоол оруулж тооны харьцааг нээсэн ч Жүүд Беллингхэм завсарлагааны өмнөхөн тэнцээний гоолыг оруулсан юм. Томас Тухель хоёрдугаар хагасын эхэнд Деклан Райс, Нони Мадуэке нарыг суулгаж, Букайо Сака болон Эберечи Эзе нарыг талбайд гаргасан нь тоглолтын тактикийг эрс өөрчилсөн. Хоёр багийн тоглолт үндсэн цагт тэнцээгээр өндөрлөсөн тул нэмэлт цаг сунгасан бөгөөд энэ үед сэлгээгээр орж ирсэн Морган Рожерсын цохилтын дараа Жүүд Беллингхэм хожлын гоолыг оруулжээ.
Тоглолтын туршид Тухель тактикийн олон өөрчлөлт хийсэн бөгөөд ялангуяа сэлгээнээс гарч ирсэн Жэд Спенсийн эрч хүчтэй тоглолт Английн ялалтад чухал нөлөө үзүүлснийг Харри Кэйн онцолсон байна. Тоглолтын дараа Тухель сэтгэгдэл хэлэхдээ, багийнхан хичээл зүтгэл гаргаж, итгэл үнэмшилтэй тоглосонд сэтгэл хангалуун байгаа ч ирэх тоглолтуудад илүү сайн тоглох шаардлагатайг хүлээн зөвшөөрөв. Английн дасгалжуулагч довтолгооны хувьд Харри Кэйн, Жүүд Беллингхэм нарыг хослуулан тоглуулах нь багийн үндсэн хөзөр хэвээр үлдэхийг тодотголоо.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
After 120 minutes of high-stakes football in hugely testing climatic conditions, it was impressive that Thomas Tuchel was able to divorce the emotion from the analysis.
“I am impressed with the shift they put in, the effort, the team spirit, the belief,” Tuchel said after England’s 2-1 victory over Norway. “But I’m also a football coach and we can play better… with my analytical head, in terms of football coaching, we can, and have to, play better football.”
England’s dip in performance after half-time, and subsequent improvement in extra time, stemmed largely from Tuchel’s changes, good and bad.
On a remarkably humid afternoon in Miami, this was a slow-burning quarter-final. It wasn’t until 29 minutes in, when Harry Kane blasted a free kick over the bar, that either side had a shot. It was the longest wait for a shot in any of the 99 matches at the tournament until then.
There were, however, two goals before half-time. Andreas Schjelderup’s opener, which deceived Jordan Pickford with a strange trajectory, gave Norway the lead. Jude Bellingham’s well-taken equaliser shortly before the break didn’t change Tuchel’s planned substitutions at half-time.
His double change at the break involved four Arsenal players: Declan Rice and Noni Madueke were withdrawn, Bukayo Saka — as expected — replaced Madueke, and the more surprising move was Tuchel turning to Eberechi Eze in place of Rice. The latter had started the game alongside Elliot Anderson but holding a deeper position than usual. With Rice having spent recent days in bed with illness, Tuchel clearly wanted to limit his running, and Anderson was the one who pushed higher, as shown below (Rice is in the centre circle; Anderson is shown further forward).
“We decided to become more offensive,” said Tuchel after the game. “We decided that when we went 1-0 down, and I didn’t want to go back on that because of that equaliser. I wanted higher positioning when Norway were in a deep block, and more connections. We put in Ebs (Eze) and Bukayo in. We needed to take Dec or Elliot (Anderson) out, and we knew that Dec wouldn’t survive 90 minutes, so we didn’t want to waste another change. So we took Dec out earlier than he needed to.”
England didn’t improve. In fact, they became worse. Anderson, who had spent the first half pushing forward, was now brought back into the deep midfield role (the deepest of the three in the middle below). Eze played alongside Bellingham, who was brought back into a slightly deeper position, as part of a midfield three.
Anderson performed well in front of the defence, fetching and carrying effectively. But England couldn’t progress the ball, with Eze and Bellingham waiting high up for passes that never came. Norway had the initiative — and, for a minute, the lead. Torbjorn Heggem seemed to have scored, but a foul from Erling Haaland meant the goal was disallowed.
Seventy minutes in, Tuchel had seen enough and went about fixing things. Reece James for Anthony Gordon — a right-back for a left winger — isn’t exactly a conventional change. But James actually went into the midfield role he played for Chelsea during the first half of last season, freeing up Anderson to push forward again, up alongside Bellingham. Eze moved left, into Gordon’s role.
James’ first pass was dreadful, nearly playing England into trouble. England, initially, didn’t look any more secure.
But England’s fourth and fifth changes in normal time — substitutions which weren’t, let’s remember, permitted until Covid forced some emergency changes to football’s laws — meant they finally took the initiative. First, Djed Spence replaced Nico O’Reilly at left-back — a rare straight swap — and then Ezri Konsa, fielded in his less-preferred right-back role, couldn’t continue and so Tuchel turned to Morgan Rogers.
This was an attacking midfielder on for a right-back. James changed position and moved to right-back. Anderson was again forced to become the lone holding midfielder, his role seemingly changing with every substitution.
Eventually, England ended up on the front foot for the extra-time period. Rogers and Spence provided energy and drive. Rogers’ swerving shot deceived Orjan Nyland and allowed Bellingham to convert the rebound; a winner that was strangely similar to Mikel Merino’s goal that settled the previous day’s semi-final, Spain’s 1-0 win over Belgium.
Spence, too, deserves particular credit. Regarded as a defensively diligent full-back rather than an adventurous creator, he was England’s best performer in extra time. With various starters exhausted and praying for breaks in play to stretch muscles, Spence offered forward running, dribbling and seemed to have won a penalty that was eventually overturned through another use of VAR.
“Djed in particular was outstanding when he came on,” said Harry Kane afterwards. “The energy he brought, the one-v-one duels, it really helped change the game for us. That’s what we needed.“
Thomas Tuchel gives Jude Bellingham instructions during a break against Norway (Eddie Keogh/The FA via Getty Images)
Tuchel’s sixth change was bringing on Dan Burn, who replicated his role from the win against Mexico: an emergency bonus centre-back who could head away high balls.
England probably dropped too deep, but who could blame them, especially after an exhausted Haaland departed midway through extra time and Norway lost their chief penalty-box threat. John Stones played only 439 minutes in the Premier League last season, so it’s not a surprise that 120 minutes was a challenge here. He was one of only four England players who lasted the duration, and collapsed to his knees at full time.
Afterwards, Tuchel went through his somewhat complex list of substitutions and system changes. “Jude started as a right No 10, and we made changes at half time that put him to the left No 8 — more eight to 10 — but that put him deeper on the field, which wasn’t ideal for us as we want him as high as possible on the pitch,” he said. “Then we put on Reece James as the No 6, that freed up Anderson to go back as the No 8, and Jude back as the right No 10. And then Rogers, because we needed James as a right defender, so then we played with Elliot as the No 6.”
There was somewhat more chopping and changing in defence and midfield than you would hope for in a World Cup quarter-final. Up top, though, the plan is clear.
“The attacking formula is simple,” said Tuchel. “I put Harry and Jude together — and they will do the rest.”
