Andreas Schjelderup had put Norway ahead in Miami before Jude Bellingham's brace, either side of extra time, sent England through to face the winner of Argentina and Switzerland. Norway had a second-half goal disallowed after Erling Haaland fouled Elliot Anderson before a corner, while there were also questions over whether the ball had clipped an overhead camera cable before Bellingham's opener.
Speaking to ITV, Tuchel stressed he took no satisfaction from grinding out a result rather than performing to his side's usual standard.
"I didn't talk about suffering. I never did. We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today. The result is fantastic. We are in the last four. It's amazing but not happy with the performance. - in every sense," he said.
"The commitment is there but we made life difficult for is in the way we played and how we played - sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough. We were lucky today."
Asked if the display was down to his players' mentality, Tuchel rejected the suggestion.
"I don't know. It's not the mentality. This is pure mentality. It's not about mentality. You can bottle it up and sell it. It's about the quality - we need to play better," he said.
Tuchel did have praise for those introduced from the bench in extra time.
"Reece James was excellent. Morgan Rogers was fantastic today. Eberechi Eze and Djed Spence grew into the game. Full credit to them. Overall we got lucky today," he said.
Tuchel reserved special praise for Bellingham, whose extra-time goal settled the contest.
"Enough said. He does it every single match. World class," he said, before turning his attention to Tuesday's semi-final. "We will get better. We need to. Now it's celebration. Now it's taking it all in. We have three days. We need everything."
Captain Harry Kane echoed his manager's mixed emotions, telling BBC Radio 5 Live the physical toll had made it one of the toughest nights of the tournament.
"The heat, the humidity. For me, it was tougher than the Mexico game in that sense. We showed quality at times but still not enough. Ultimately, we found a way to win. It wasn't our prettiest performance, we know, but we're into a semi-final of a World Cup. The difference again was Jude with the two goals at the perfect time. That is what got over the line. I think we could have played better, especially with the ball," Kane said.
"I think when you see us train and see the ability we have in the team with the ball. The boss talks about having that freedom and to show that on the biggest stage, we still haven't done that. We showed it in glimpses. Sometimes that is football - we are still doing amazingly well. We have match winners in the team at both ends. We need to enjoy this and recover well and look forward to a big semi-final.
"It has been an extremely successful era for our national team. We want to get over the line. That is the missing piece now. We're knocking on the door. It is a big week. We have eight days left of this tournament. We have been together for six weeks and we have shown every bit of desire for the badge. As always, we just go again."
Midfielder Elliot Anderson, speaking to BBC Sport, described the win as a product of sheer resilience in gruelling conditions.
"It's incredible. The lads stuck together out there. It was the physically hardest game I've played in. The team's togetherness is unbelievable. We've just had a small celebration in the dressing room and we are all happy," he said.
"I am still catching my breath. I had to keep the energy for the team in the middle. Keep fighting and keep running and have each others' backs."
Asked about Tuchel's assessment, Anderson agreed there was room for improvement.
"We can always be better. We could've controlled the game more and not made it a physical match. We will improve in training this week," he said.
He was similarly effusive about Bellingham.
"He is the best. Just playing with him is incredible. Just giving him the ball and watching what he can do with it and the way he fights for the team is incredible," he said, before looking ahead to the last four.
"We can be very excited. We are in the and we still haven't played at our best. There's more to come. If we can get there, we will put in much better displays and get through to the final hopefully."