The England team made it to the final of the second consecutive European Championship football, defeating the Netherlands in the final minutes of the tournament's semi-finals. Sport reflects on the strange path of the main favorite to the Euro 2024 final, admires the decisive goal in extra time and celebrates another achievement of the main scorer in the composition of the founders of football.
There can never be too much luck. One semi-final is already behind us. The day before in Munich, the Spanish team beat the French and reached the decisive match of the Old World Championship for the fifth time. The bright “Furia Rocha” successfully covered the entire distance without making a single misfire, and now seems to be the obvious favorite of the final. And it doesn’t matter who would emerge victorious from the confrontation between the Netherlands and England. There is nothing to praise France for: Kylian Mbappe and company showed nothing on the German fields, only taking bronze by a fortunate coincidence. It’s hard to believe that a year and a half ago these same stars reached the final of the Qatari World Cup, and some took gold at the World Cup in Russia six years ago.
Something similar can be said about lucky England. The most expensive team in the tournament is not at all happy: as in the case of France, the founders of football had luck in matches, a successful grid and the performing skills of individual leaders. Although even Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane have something to criticize for. For example, for the last match with Switzerland, which became the hundredth for head coach Gareth Southgate. In it, everything was decided in a penalty shootout (for once the British did not lose in the football lottery), but during the meeting the favorite looked worse than the guys of Murat Yakin.
With England like that, the Netherlands' chances of reaching the final increased dramatically. The equally lucky “orange” (from third place in the group got into the playoffs against the Romanians and Turks) can already count Euro 2024 as their assets, because they ended up in the medals for the first time since the 2014 World Cup. They are not under pressure from responsibility, so they were seriously expecting a sensation in Dortmund from coach Ronald Koeman, top defender with the captain's armband Virgil van Dijk and one of the top scorers of the tournament Cody Gakpo.Kane scored, but did not become the main hero. The English are no strangers to comebacks: in the 1/8 finals they lost to Slovakia, and in the quarterfinals to the Swiss. Today, too, the Netherlands opened the scoring in the seventh minute. Xavi Simons carried the ball into the penalty area and, falling onto the slippery turf, fired it right into the far corner. Jordan Pickford's jump did not help England at all.
The founders of football recovered quickly. Kane fired the ball just over the crossbar from a killer position in the 14th minute. And then there was the “overlay”: the forward’s foot flew right into the studs of Denzel Dumfries — referee Felix Zwaer, after viewing the VAR, awarded a penalty, which the victim confidently converted. Kane scored his sixth goal in the playoffs of the European Championships and became the top scorer in knockout matches in Euro history.
A great first half in which England looked better. In addition to two goals, he was complemented by hits on the frame of the goal: Dumfries hit the crossbar with his header, and Phil Foden twisted it into the crossbar.
In the second half, analogies with yesterday's match could not be avoided: a busy first 45 minutes with goals and closed football after the break. We had to wait a long time for the dangerous moment. In the 65th minute, Van Dijk fought with Kyle Walker and fired home from close range — this is where Pickford came to the rescue. The goalkeeper had made more than one appearance but it was the Netherlands captain's strike that proved Jordon's biggest test on Wednesday.
It was not long before the quiet Signal Iduna Park was rocked by Bukayo Saka. He crossed from the flank, past Bart Verbruggen, and, as it seemed, snatched victory for England. But the referees correctly called offside and the goal was canceled.
However, it still didn’t come to extra time. In the first minute of added time, Ollie Watkins, who came on as a substitute for Kane, hit the far corner of Verbruggen's goal from a tight angle — this was unexpected, because a pass was suggested from that position. And it was very beautiful!
Euro 2024July 10, 2024 • starts at 22:00Finished
NetherlandsNetherlands1 : 2
EnglandEngland
07' • Javi Simons
18' • Harry Kane (P)90' • Ollie Watkins (Col Palmer )
Goodbye, Netherlands. Just like at the World Cup ten years ago, the Orange were just a little short of reaching the final. And you can feel sorry for them: Koeman’s bright team could definitely give the fight to the Spaniards. But you can’t relax at this level. The Dutch defense didn't screw up much today, but the fatal mistake with Watkins' marking was paid for very quickly.
Boring? But with the result, England, despite criticism, dull play and strange decisions by Southgate, reached the Euro final. For the second draw in a row — on July 14 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, the founders of football will have to take the last step towards the first ever triumph at the Old World Championship.
- 2008/Germany — SPAIN — 0:1
- 2012/SPAIN — Italy — 4:0
- 2016/PORTUGAL — France— 1:0
- 2020/ITALY — England < /strong>— 1:1 (3:2 on penalties)
2024/Spain — England
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