It was an extraordinary game that had everything: five goals, two penalties, a red card and plenty of needle from start to finish. England were reduced in numbers when Jarell Quansah was sent off for a studs-up challenge on Mexico winger Jesus Gallardo in the second half. It was initially missed by referee Alireza Faghani, but he produced his red card following a VAR intervention.
Another moment of VAR controversy saw Mexico awarded a penalty when Harry Kane was deemed to have kicked the foot of Brian Gutierrez while challenging for the ball.
Tuchel was quizzed on those decisions in his post-match interview on BBC Sport and made no attempt to hide his frustrations in a scathing review of the referee’s performance.
He said: “Just not good enough, the referees are just not good enough, the fourth official is just not good enough.
“We had three people on the VAR from South America, is that right? If this is what I saw, if this is correct…
“VAR overturns, a clear and obvious error for the penalty? For sure not. They didn’t even give a foul.
“They didn’t overturn the yellow to a red. Not good enough, the referee and the fourth official was not good enough.”
Tuchel was considerably happier with the performance of his England players, who showed incredible heart and resilience to see the game through under immense pressure.
“When a team has heart and it has belief, then this team did it on pure will,” he said. “No words. An iconic match, an iconic stadium.
“We overcame so much adversity today. Full credit. I’m very proud. I didn’t feel it was hostile, I found it more cheering and emotional.
“They had chances and scored their goals. We were aware of that but we refused to give in on a level that was absolutely admirable.”