With Spain set for a final showdown on Sunday, England and the Netherlands locked horns to earn a place in the fiesta with the Spanish team in Berlin. As expected, both sides fielded their strongest XIs, with Marc Guehi returning to the lineup ahead of Ezri Konsa that had a good game against Switzerland.
The game started on a high note when Declan Rice was robbed off the ball by Xavi Simons, that bore down on goal unmarked before blasting a hot shot that fizzled past Jordon Pickford. It was a good shot no doubt, but one would have expected Pickford to make a save.
As the game progressed, England continued to press on, and got an equalizer in rather fictitious circumstances when Harry Kane fired a shot over the bar but was tackled by Denzel Dumfries. It was shocking to see the VAR review for a penalty on the incident, but hey, we’ve seen worse. Kane stepped and drilled the penalty past Bart Verbruggen.
The second half saw England continued to probe for the match winner and Phil Foden was on the forefront of their attacks, having the ball hacked off the line, and firing a Lamine Yamal-esque curler that clipped the post.
With the game edging towards full time, which would be the potential third knockout game in a row that England would be going to extra time, but Gareth Southgate made a bold move, taking out Harry Kane and Phil Foden for Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer. In a strange twist of fate, Palmer drilled a pass to Watkins path, that controlled it on the turn before firing it past the Dutch goalie to send the English fans into raptures.
Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Watkins.
Sayonara.
