England beat the Netherlands 2-1 in a thrilling match on Wednesday to secure a spot in the EURO 2024 finals. There, the Three Lions will face Spain, which beat France the day prior.
This marks back-to-back appearances in the finals of the European Championship for England. They made it to the same stage of the tournament in EURO 2020 before falling to Italy after a penalty shootout.
England was in danger of ending its EURO 2024 run in the semifinals after the Netherlands got a lead via Xavi Simmons in the seventh minute. But an equalizer came just 11 minutes later, thanks to Harry Kane, who converted a penalty kick.
After early goals, the match entered a much calmer phase, with both sides focused on trying to avoid mistakes rather than threaten their opponents. The strategy worked well for both teams until the 91st minute when the Netherlands found itself on the receiving end of a goal by substitute Ollie Watkins.
Cole Palmer got the ball inside the penalty area to Watkins, who quickly turned around and delivered a ground shot that got past goalie Bart Verbruggen and into the net. The Netherlands made a late push to get the game back level but ran out of time before managing to create something meaningful.
“Unbelievable. I’ve been waiting for that moment for weeks, for weeks,” said Watkins, who was making just his second appearance at EURO 2024 after the game. “It’s taken a lot of hard work to get to where I am today and grateful that I got the opportunity — and I’ve grabbed it with both hands, and I’m delighted.
