In the round of 16, England fell behind once morest Slovakia, in the quarter-finals they conceded first once morest Switzerland, and this was also the case tonight (Wednesday) in the semi-final of Euro 2024 once morest the Netherlands. Again, with a lot of character and winning substitutions by Gareth Southgate, England turned a 1:2 deficit on the way to the second Euro final in a row, this time once morest Spain (Sunday, 22:00, Sport1).
The game started at a high pace, and following seven minutes the huge advantage of the oranges arrived. Xavi Simmons stole the ball from Declan Rice in the English half of the pitch, raced forward and sent a tremendous kick to Jordan Pickford’s connections. The equalizer came in the 18th minute following Harry Kane squeezed Denzel Dumfries for a foul in the box, Felix Zweier was called by the screen referees to watch the incident once more and the German referee pointed to the white spot. The English captain did not get confused and sent a flat ball to the left corner on the way to 1:1. The tremendous pace continued with another Dumfries involvement, this time on the standard that saved Holland from the line following Phil Foden’s kick, and later the right back hit the crossbar. Foden continued to show good ability with a kick to the bar of Bart Verbrochen, and in the 35th minute Holland lost Memphis Depay who was injured and replaced. Ronald Koeman decided to put Joey Firman in the striker’s place in a surprising lineup change.
The second half was mostly dominated by the Dutch, but in this tournament it feels like football is played for 90 minutes, and at the end somehow England manage to win. This time, the winning goal was scored by Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins, the pair of substitutes, when the Chelsea midfielder set up a kicking situation for the Aston Villa striker, and Watkins kicked a flat ball into the far corner (90+1) and sent the Three Lions team to the Euro final.
