BBC pundit Joe Hart has countered comments made by England manager Thomas Tuchel regarding the refereeing decisions during England's 3-2 World Cup victory against Mexico. Tuchel expressed strong dissatisfaction with the officials and VAR after the match, stating, "It's just not good enough. The referees are just not good enough, fourth officials are just not good enough." He specifically questioned the VAR review that led to a penalty being awarded to Mexico.
Hart disagreed with Tuchel's assessment, telling reporters, "I think he has got that wrong." He added that while he understood frustration with contentious calls like the red card and penalties, he did not believe the decisions were borderline. "I thought they were decent decisions in the end," Hart stated.
The match, played at the Estadio Azteca, saw England secure a place in the last 16, where they are set to play Norway. The game was a challenging encounter for England, who had to contend with Mexico's unbeaten record in the tournament, acclimatization to the altitude, and strong home crowd support. England secured the win with two goals from Jude Bellingham and a penalty from Harry Kane.
England faced significant officiating challenges, including the dismissal of right-back Jarell Quansah in the 54th minute for a slide tackle deemed dangerous after a VAR review. Later in the second half, a penalty was awarded to Mexico after Kane's challenge on Brian Gutierrez, which was confirmed by VAR after the on-field referee initially made no call. Raul Jimenez converted the penalty for Mexico.
Despite the adversity, Tuchel praised his team's mentality, saying, "I am just proud of the mentality and attitude... We did it with pure mentality and heart." He described the performance as "heroic" given the circumstances, including playing with 10 men for a significant portion of the match.
In a separate post-match development, England player Jordan Henderson was hospitalised with a serious wrist injury sustained during the team's celebrations. Tuchel confirmed the injury was quite serious and that Henderson was receiving medical attention.