Wednesday July 10th 2024 Kick-off 8:00pm
Wow, isn’t a late winner in the ninety-something minute a lot kinder on the health than a late equaliser or the threat of penalties at the end?
And so it was that sub Ollie Watkins obliged at 91 minutes from the right hand corner of the Netherlands 6-yard box, through the legs of defender De Vrij and into the net at the far post.
Keeper Verbruggen had been covering the angles by the players so Watkins screaming shot through the defender had him wrong-footed, grabbing at thin air as he dived to his right.
Up to that point it had been 1-1 after an exchange of goals early on – Simons for the Netherlands after eight minutes and an equalising penalty from Kane at eighteen.
And there we are. England, for the second European Championships in a row, are finalists. Off they go to Berlin to play Spain on the 14th July.
Pre-Match
The Netherlands have won the Euros, they did it in 1988 beating a team which, in theory, no longer exists – the Soviet Union.
England have never won the Euros though they got darn close last time, in the 2020 competition, being runners up against Italy. They lost 3-2 on penalties.
England first played the Netherlands in 1935, winning 1-0. Since then they have played a further 19 times of which England have won 4, drawn 9 and lost 6.
Both teams in their respective Euros 2024 quarter final matches, the Netherlands vs Turkey and England vs Switzerland, went behind 0-1 and battled back to level at 1-1 before full time.
Turkey kindly scored the winner for the Netherlands via an own-goal within the 90 minutes of regular play while England subjected their fans to a heart-in-mouth, sudden death-by-penalty shootout after extra time.
England’s fans had a right to be worried as the last time England had won a Euros penalty shootout was 1996 and since then had been in 4 shootouts and lost all 4, the last being that 2020 final against Italy.
It’s a bit of an understatement to say how nice it was to come out on top, 5-3 on penalties.
The TVs in the Club will have the Semi-Final action.