Two-goal Kane and five clean sheets sweep England to Euro semi-finals
Harry Kane of England celebrates after victory in the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship Quarter-final match between Ukraine and England at Olimpico Stadium on July 03, 2021 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino - Pool/Getty Images)
ROME, July 3, 2021 - England are coming home to Wembley next Wednesday in the Euro 2020 semi-finals after thrashing shell-shocked 4-0 Ukraine in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Their clash with Denmark will be England’s first appearance in the semi-finals of the European Championship since the shootout defeat by the Germans in 1996. Winners will face Italy or Spain who also meet at Wembley in their own semi-final showdown on Tuesday.
England’s quarter-final was their only ‘away day’ after having played in front of their own fans for all of their three group matches and the notable victory over Germany in the round of 16. They have kept clean sheets in all five matches.
Not that England’s performance was perfect. They were guilty of some sloppy and careless passing but a dispirited and battle-battered Ukraine were not good enough to capitalise.
The few thousand foreign-based England able to make it to Rome were cheering as early as the fourth minute.
Kane, heavily criticised after his opening two laboured performances in the tournament, had opened his tally in the round of 16 victory over Germany and followed up by jabbing home a superbly-judged fourth-minute assist from Raheem Sterling.
Manchester United leftback Luke Shaw has emerged as one of England’s notable successes. He played a crucial role in the two early second-half goals which killed the tie.
In the 46th minute the Manchester United leftback delivered a free kick which Maguire headed home. Then, five minutes later, Shaw collected a pass from Sterling and crossed square for Kane to head powerfully into goal between goalkeeper Heorhiy Bushchan’s legs.
Bushchan was beaten again in the 63rd minute, this time by newly-arrived substitute Jordan Henderson. The Liverpool skipper had needed to wait 62 appearances for his own first international goal.
Earlier Denmark's extended their emotional campaign by defeating the Czech Republic 2-1 in Baku. Their progress has been remarkable recalling the trauma of their tournament opener when captain Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest.
The Danes followed up their decisive round of 16 victory over Wales by striking early in Azerbaijan. They led from the fifth minute, when Thomas Delaney was gifted a ‘free’ header at a corner, and extended the advantage just before half-time through centre-forward Kasper Dolberg.
The Czechs introduced several attacking substitutes for the second goal and pulled one goal back through Patrik Schick who thus drew level on five goals with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo as the finals’ joint leading marksmen.
After the game, coach Kasper Hjulmand insisted said his team would still have Eriksen in their thoughts as they play on.
He said: “There are so many other agendas in football, but we all remembered why we started to play football, what values football is based on and we have all had a reminder of this. I am still thinking of Christian every single day. He should have been here.
“We carried thoughts of him all the way to this match and they will continue with us all the way to Wembley.”
Their clash with Denmark will be England’s first appearance in the semi-finals of the European Championship since the shootout defeat by the Germans in 1996. Winners will face Italy or Spain who also meet at Wembley in their own semi-final showdown on Tuesday.
England’s quarter-final was their only ‘away day’ after having played in front of their own fans for all of their three group matches and the notable victory over Germany in the round of 16. They have kept clean sheets in all five matches.
Not that England’s performance was perfect. They were guilty of some sloppy and careless passing but a dispirited and battle-battered Ukraine were not good enough to capitalise.
The few thousand foreign-based England able to make it to Rome were cheering as early as the fourth minute.
Kane, heavily criticised after his opening two laboured performances in the tournament, had opened his tally in the round of 16 victory over Germany and followed up by jabbing home a superbly-judged fourth-minute assist from Raheem Sterling.
Manchester United leftback Luke Shaw has emerged as one of England’s notable successes. He played a crucial role in the two early second-half goals which killed the tie.
In the 46th minute the Manchester United leftback delivered a free kick which Maguire headed home. Then, five minutes later, Shaw collected a pass from Sterling and crossed square for Kane to head powerfully into goal between goalkeeper Heorhiy Bushchan’s legs.
Bushchan was beaten again in the 63rd minute, this time by newly-arrived substitute Jordan Henderson. The Liverpool skipper had needed to wait 62 appearances for his own first international goal.
Earlier Denmark's extended their emotional campaign by defeating the Czech Republic 2-1 in Baku. Their progress has been remarkable recalling the trauma of their tournament opener when captain Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest.
The Danes followed up their decisive round of 16 victory over Wales by striking early in Azerbaijan. They led from the fifth minute, when Thomas Delaney was gifted a ‘free’ header at a corner, and extended the advantage just before half-time through centre-forward Kasper Dolberg.
The Czechs introduced several attacking substitutes for the second goal and pulled one goal back through Patrik Schick who thus drew level on five goals with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo as the finals’ joint leading marksmen.
After the game, coach Kasper Hjulmand insisted said his team would still have Eriksen in their thoughts as they play on.
He said: “There are so many other agendas in football, but we all remembered why we started to play football, what values football is based on and we have all had a reminder of this. I am still thinking of Christian every single day. He should have been here.
“We carried thoughts of him all the way to this match and they will continue with us all the way to Wembley.”
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