England advance to historic final
LONDON, July 8, (AP): England have broken through its semifinal ceiling at major soccer tournaments. A title match awaits for the first time in 55 years.
Harry Kane converted the rebound after his initial penalty was saved in the 104th minute to give England a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Denmark in extra time in the European Championship semifinals at Wembley Stadium.
England will return to their national soccer stadium on Sunday to play Italy and will be competing in their first final since the 1966 World Cup. That remains England’s only international title.
In the intervening decades, the English have lost in the semifinals four times in either the World Cup or the European Championship. For that reason, this will go down as one of the most significant feats in the national team’s history, something David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Paul Gascoigne and Gary Lineker never achieved.
Two of those semifinals losses - in 1990 and 1996 - were decided via a penalty shootout, with Southgate missing a crucial kick in one of them against Germany. And a shootout looked like where England and Denmark were headed until Raheem Sterling wriggled into the area down the right, cut inside and fell under the challenge of Mattias Jensen.
The contact looked minimal, and a video review was needed. After a brief wait that must have felt longer to England’s fans, the decision stood.
Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel guessed the right way to block Kane’s penalty but the ball came back to the England captain, who reacted quickly to put it into the net from six yards out.
Denmark’s players, whose emotionally charged run to the semifinals was powered by a resolve to win the title for Christian Eriksen after the midfielder’s collapse on the field during the group stage, were almost on their knees by that point.
And Danish hopes of an equalizer were damaged by having to play with only 10 men for the second half of extra time after Jensen was forced off injured. Denmark had already used up their six substitutes by then.
Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand’s biggest grievance was with the awarding of the penalty.
SOCCER
England showed another side by rallying for victory after conceding a goal for the first time at Euro 2020 when Mikkel Damsgaard scored with a free kick in the 30th.
It was a shot that Eriksen - Denmark’s
captain who is recovering at home after suffering cardiac arrest and collapsing on the field against Finland on June 12 - would have been proud of as his replacement in the team whipped the ball over the defensive wall and into the top corner.
At that stage, Denmark were on top, with their pressing and slick passing in midfield causing England problems and sparking concern among the previously boisterous home fans.
Moments after Sterling was denied from point-blank range by Schmeichel, Bukayo Saka was sent free down the right by Kane’s pass and the winger’s low cross was bundled into the net by Denmark defender Simon Kjaer in the 39th, under pressure from Sterling. It was the 11th own-goal of Euro 2020.