England Seal EURO Final Spot: Watkins breaks “Tulips” hearts!

England has qualified for the European Championship final for the second consecutive time.

Gareth Southgate’s team secured a 2-1 victory against the Netherlands and will compete for the title against Spain on Sunday. Xavi Simons scored in the seventh minute, and Harry Kane equalized with a penalty in the 18th minute.

Ollie Watkins scored in the 91st minute.

Ronald Koeman’s team appeared more defensively positioned, relying on counter-attacks.

The “Tulips” attempted quick attacks twice, showing they could be dangerous.

In the first instance, an offside was called, and in the second, the opponent’s defense handled it.

The English team lost the ball in a dangerous zone in the seventh minute. Xavi Simons stole the ball from Declan Rice, advanced, and beat Pickford with a superb shot.

Southgate’s team fell behind in the score for the third consecutive match in the knockout stages of Euro 2024.

England immediately tried to respond and began attacking more aggressively. A free-kick cross by Foden was cleared by the Dutch defense. Shortly after, Saka’s breakthrough ended with a blocked shot.

The ball reached Kane, who sent it over the goal.

In this situation, however, Dumfries hit the British captain in the leg. The referee went to review the incident on the monitor and awarded a penalty.

Kane scored from the spot to equalize.

Following the equalizer, the “Three Lions” had a strong period and continued their attacks. Southgate’s team was close to a second goal in the 23rd minute.

Mainoo’s breakthrough ended with a pass to Foden, who navigated past several defenders in the penalty area and poked the ball past the goalkeeper. However, it did not cross the goal line before Dumfries cleared it.

Denzel Dumfries was central to the action at both ends of the field.

After his crucial intervention in front of his goal, he could have found himself in a very difficult situation. The Interfender stopped Foden, and the English team wanted a foul, which would have resulted in a second yellow card for the defender.

Shortly after, Dumfries was at the other end, heading the ball against the crossbar.

Despite this, England dominated, and Phil Foden, struggling in his initial matches at the European Championship, shone. In the 32nd minute, he also hit the crossbar with a brilliant long-range shot.

Shortly after, the Netherlands suffered another blow. Memphis Depay had to leave the field due to injury and was replaced by Joey Veerman.

The “Three Lions” continued to press, with shots from Foden and Mainoo, but they did not trouble Verbruggen.

The Netherlands struggled with the opponent’s attacks and spent most of the time in their half. Nonetheless, they held on until halftime, which gave Ronald Koeman time to consider what changes to make.

At halftime, both coaches made one substitution each.

Luke Shaw replaced Kieran Trippier, and Wout Weghorst came on for Donyell Malen. At the start of the second half, the “Tulips” managed much better against the opponent’s attacks.

The pace was lower, and the English team needed to find the gaps in the Dutch defense they exploited in the first half. Southgate’s team controlled the ball for long periods but did not create threats to Verbruggen’s goal.

As time passed, England played more cautiously, and the “Oranges” felt increasingly comfortable and appeared to be the team with clearer ideas.

A shot by Simons did not trouble Pickford. In the 79th minute, England scored through Saka, but it was disallowed due to an offside on Walker, who assisted. Immediately after, Southgate made two substitutions, bringing on Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer for Kane and Foden.

In the final minutes of regular time, a good Dutch attack ended with a cross towards Weghorst, but he couldn’t make a shot as Guehi intervened excellently.

Palmer then missed a shot towards the other goal. In the first minute of added time, Watkins became a hero for the English team.

With a diagonal shot, he received the ball from Palmer and managed to beat the Dutch goalkeeper.

This will be the second consecutive European Championship final for the “Three Lions.”

Three years ago, Southgate’s team lost on penalties in the title contest against Italy. Under Southgate’s leadership, the English team has yet to lose in regular time in Euro finals.

The unbeaten streak now stands at 13 matches, a record for a team at the European Championship.

Before Southgate, England had only one final in a major tournament out of 23 participations – in 1966, when they won the World Cup.

The British are the first team to reach the European Championship final after trailing in both the quarterfinals and the semifinals.