England, Portugal enter semis

NATIONS LEAGUE Harry Kane scores winner as England take revenge over Croatia for World Cup semifinal loss

WEMBLEY: Harry Kane fired England into the Nations League semi-finals as Gareth Southgate’s side scored twice in the last 12 minutes to seal a dramatic 2-1 victory over Croatia on Sunday.

England were on the brink of relegation to the second tier of the competition after Andrej Kramaric gave Croatia the lead against the run of play in the second half. But Southgate’s young side pulled off a stirring escape act in the closing stages to gain a measure of revenge for their World Cup semi-final defeat against Croatia earlier this year.

Jesse Lingard came off the bench to poach England’s equaliser and captain Kane was on hand to turn in the winner with five minutes left.

England’s fightback took them to the top of Group A4, above Spain and relegated Croatia, and they can look forward to playing in the last four in June next year.

It was a cathartic moment for England, who have made a habit of suffering painful defeats against Croatia, with this year’s World Cup woe following the 2007 loss that cost them a place at Euro 2008. More importantly, the performance provided further tangible proof that Southgate is building a team capable of challenging tugal qualified for the Nations League semi-finals on Saturday after holding Italy to a 0-0 draw at the San Siro. The Portuguese — despite the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo — progressed with one match to play, and are sure to finish top of Group A3, with Italy’s hopes in the tournament over.

Poland had already been relegated to League B.

Roberto Mancini’s Italians needed a win to keep their hopes of advancing to the final four next June alive, but despite pushing Portugal for over an hour in front of 73,000 spectators at the San Siro, could not find a way through.

Instead, they earned a goalless draw which echoed the stalemate against Sweden a year ago that ended their hopes of reaching the World Cup in Russia. “It’s really satisfying to reach the final phase of this competition,” said coach Fernando Santos. “But it was a very difficult match, above all the first half when I have to admit we had a lot of difficulties.” Portugal host Poland on Tuesday in Guimaraes, in a match that has no significance for either side.

But Santos insisted: “The final match against Poland will be important because it will be in front of our supporters, who are always with us.

“We have to have a great match and to win.”