England beat the Netherlands to the wire and reached the final – Libération

2024-07-10 21:09:35

Euro football 2024dossier

Thanks to a goal from their striker Ollie Watkins in extra time, the Three Lions eliminated the Dutch in Dortmund on Thursday July 10 (2-1). They will face Spain in the final of the tournament on Sunday.

For the second time in a row, England will play in the Euro final. And for the third consecutive season in the 2024 competition, the Three Lions came out from behind. England qualified for the last game of the continental competition by winning in extra time against the Netherlands, Wednesday July 10 in Dortmund, at the end of a game that was exciting in the beginning and then increasingly closed. Sunday in Berlin, the winners of the evening will face Spain in the final, the best team of the Euro so far, who defeated France on Tuesday evening in Munich (2-1).

Happy and lively, the first half began strongly, with the opening of the scoring in the seventh minute by the young Dutch midfielder Xavi Simons, a decision from twenty meters, with his right foot, after a high pass. A great goal, scored by a very promising player who belongs to Paris Saint-Germain but has been playing for a year in Germany, in Leipzig. England responded immediately, with captain Harry Kane equalizing to take a penalty himself. Then everything was about to move: a strike from the English footballer Phil Foden that surprised, on his line, by Denzel Dumfries, who sent a header to the cross of the Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, before Phil Foden, again, only saw sent with a curling shot from the entrance to the penalty area. Enough to make you dizzy.

Finally some offensive play

At half time, the two teams were still neck and neck, but in the game the English had the upper hand. The players of coach Gareth Southgate, criticized for several months by a section of the public and the British media who criticized him for playing too much, finally seem to show their offensive abilities, their ability to influence and combine. A misleading impression, or at least a lingering one. Because the British faced the Batavian people who gathered well, the British gradually let them sleep. Without a solution and undoubtedly afraid to suffer the opposition from Orange, who came very close to take advantage on a free kick by Jordan Pickford in the 65th minute. We then assumed we would go straight into overtime.

Until Ollie Watkins turned an evening descending into boredom into a tail. The Aston Villa player, who was present during the game, placed a great cross shot, from a corner, into the Dutch net. The last minute of extra time then played, and the English crowd at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund could go wild: the Three lions agreed.

In pain, Jude Bellingham’s teammates withdrew with the Netherlands the first big name to put themselves on their way from the beginning of the competition, who had finished first (uncertainly) in a group of Denmark, Serbia and Slovenia, then suffered. to eliminate Slovakia in the round of 16 (2-1 after extra time) and Switzerland in the quarter-finals (1-1, 5-3 on penalties). On Sunday, for the first time in their history, the English will play a major tournament (Euro or World Cup) outside England. And that would be another story.