Netherlands 1-2 England: Reaction as Three Lions reach final – LIVE! – Evening Standard
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Netherlands vs England – LIVE!
Ollie Watkins struck in the 90th minute to send England into the Euro 2024 final with a dramatic 2-1 win over the Netherlands. The Three Lions, as in their previous two knockout matches at the tournament, fell behind, as Xavi Simons scored a stunning opener inside seven minutes.
But England responded with arguably their best 45-minute display of the summer, even if they equalised in fairly controversial circumstances. Harry Kane was perhaps fortunate to win a penalty, after Denzel Dumfries attempted to close down his shot, but the England captain stepped up to dispatch the spot-kick. A cagey second-half followed, one that seemed destined to be followed by another 30 minutes, until Watkins gathered Cole Palmer’s pass and from the tightest of angles fired a brilliant finish into the far corner.
No English men’s team has made it to a major final on foreign soil before and now they have the chance to become European champions for the first time, when they face Spain in Sunday’s final.
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Here’s the big moment, in case you’d not seen it.
If you have, watch it again. Then again. Then maybe one more time.
Less than a decade ago, Ollie Watkins was on loan from Exeter at Weston-super-Mare in the National League and he says he never imagined such a moment.
“I never thought I’d be playing in the Euros for England,” he said.
“Obviously you can dream but I’m a realist and I just take it day by day, one step at a time, and I was just focused on getting back in the first-team at Exeter.
“I’ve not thought about that, I’ve put in a lot of hard work to get to this point, it’s not just this season, it’s cumulative. And I’m going to enjoy every moment.”
Gareth Southgate and his staff celebrated Ollie Watkins’ goal for about two seconds before it dawned on them that they had a lead to hold through stoppage time!
Great work by Steve Holland to focus minds and while we were all going bonkers, they began preparing two substitutes to help see out the game.
Gareth Southgate has now reached back-to-back European Championship finals with England, whom he has guided to the at least the last four in three of his four major tournaments at the helm.
It has been an absolutely incredible eight-year reign so far, but he ranks last night’s achievement as his greatest at the Three Lions helm.
“I think it has to be the best, it’s another landmark, but we played well through the game,” Southgate said.
“It was a complicated game.
“They kept changing, we had to keep changing how we were defensively especially but I thought we caused problems all night and the end is so special for the squad.
“It’s an example of what this squad are giving to the cause.”
The Yellow Wall turned Oranje; England’s road to Berlin paved with gold.
On a famous night here in Dortmund, Gareth Southgate’s side conquered the Netherlands and broke new ground, the first men’s team in the nation’s history to reach back-to-back major tournament finals, the first to reach even one overseas.
The hero was as unlikely as they might have come in Ollie Watkins, seemingly the third-choice centre-forward at the start of the evening, but the man whose stunning turn and finish in the final minute of the 90 sealed a 2-1 win.
Thrown front-and-centre of the celebrations, Watkins smiled and bounced in disbelief, a moment in England folklore drawn from what might have been this tournament’s most thankless lot, as understudy to Harry Kane, and not the only one at that.
Read our full report here!
And then quickly locked back in to finding the players needed to park that bus.
Konsa and Gallagher swiftly chucked on to see the final seconds out.
Fair to say the Dutch camp are not thrilled with the decision to award Harry Kane a penalty.
“Such VAR decisions destroy football,” Koeman has said.
Virgil van Dijk, who was booked in the second-half for dissent after the referee failed to award the Netherlands a corner, also took aim at Zwayer, suggesting that the official did not want to face the players after the match.
“The referee ran back inside straight after the full-time whistle, that says a lot,” Van Dijk said.
Ronald Koeman was asked in his post-match press conference whether he thinks England can have realistic hope of beating Spain in Sunday’s final.
“I think England showed great football in the first half after 1-0 down,” the Dutch boss said.
“It is football and maybe if you watch all the matches of them the Spanish national team is more offensive with wingers and great football from the back, great ball possession and you need to stop that.
“But England is in the final and they have these possibilities to win it maybe, from the outside Spain are playing on a high level but England can stop them, why not?”
I didn’t think anything could beat Ross Kemp’s living room when it came to the celebrations.
Can admit when I’m wrong…
Back in Dortmund and another memorable night for Jude Bellingham.
He is one win away from capping a truly incredible season…
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