After the second match of the semi-final, the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament shows the following results and reviews.
Wednesday 7 July
SF2: England 2-1 Denmark (aet) (London)
England has booked a date with Italy on Sunday for the final of the ongoing Euro 2020. At its tail end, we have finalists from a list of 20. Harry Kane scored from a rebound after Kasper Schmeichel saved his extra-time penalty to retain England at Wembley for the final. Mikkel Damsgaard had scared England when he put a stop to Jordan Pickford’s clean sheet with a ferocious free-kick that sailed through the ‘tall’ wall (with a down blockade too) and into the net unstopped after 30 minutes. England leveled out before half-time when Simon Kjær succumbed under Raheem Sterling’s pressure to turn Bukayo Saka’s cross into his own net.
Both teams came with direct intent and started early on to push for the realization of that intention. Half chances were created either way but by the 30th minute, a foul some 25 metres out ushered in the tournament’s first goal from direct free-kick and consequently unsealed the Three Lions’ net after 480 minutes of match time in the tournament. England went on rampage in search of an equalizer and Kane squared Sterling whose close-range attempt was blocked by the commanding Schmeichel. In the 39th minute, Kjaer gifted England the parity when he turned in Saka’s cross which already was on the tap-in path of on-rushing Sterling.
The Danes were more resilient than the Ukrainians as they kept resisting the English advances on goal and Schmeichel had to, once again, save Denmark when he stopped a Harry Maguire point header. The introduction of the Three Lions’ impact player, Jack Grealish, was to help win more battles in the midfield for England, but Jack was not really in his elements leading to his substitution in extra time. The Danes were constantly weakening on account of the voracious raiding by marauding English upfront.
In extra time, England continued dictating the game and very cautious at the back to checkmate counters. With Harry Maguire and John Stones forming an impregnable combo, Kyle Walker, with a blistering pace, roams within the first third to arrest any slips from the duo. Schmeichel stopped Kane’s low drive and later parried Grealish’s drive to safety. Slippery Sterling, who cut into the goalkeeper’s area amidst Danish defenders, was upended by Janik Vestergaard and the Referee signaled to the spot. Many considered it a soft touch but the referee’s decision was final. Schmeichel parried Kane’s spot kick but the rebound from the English captain took his haul for the tournament to four. The Three Lions were able to manage the game from there till the referee blew the final whistle that retained them at Wembley for the final, ensuring England played only one match outside Wembley – the quarterfinal against Ukraine.
With the outcome of the last semi-final match, Harry Kane has drawn level with Gary Lineker as England’s all-time leading scorer at Euro Championships and the World Cup with 10 goals. His extra-time goal was England’s 50th in Euro final tournaments. This is the first time since 1992 that all four teams have scored in the semi-finals at a Euro tournament. Remarkably, all semi-finals went to extra time in 1976, 1984, 1996, and 2000.
The Statistics
After the second semi-final match, the following statistics are available:
- 50 matches have been played out of 51 matches
- 140 goals have been scored in all with an average of 2.80 goals per match and an average scoring time of 32 minutes per goal.
Final
Sunday 11 July
Italy vs England (21:00, London)
Azuka Edokobi is a Writer , a Farmer, a Supply Chain Expert and an Entrepreneur
