England celebrating the second goal
By Our Reporter
England defeated Denmark 2-1 to qualify for the final of Euro 2020. England will meet Italy in the final.
England captain Harry Kane fired his side into their first European Championship final by slamming in the rebound to his saved penalty in extra-time, as Gareth Southgate’s team eclipsed the manager’s icons of 25 years ago with a hard-fought 2-1 win over brave Denmark.
Southgate has carried the pain of his shoot-out penalty miss at Wembley since Euro 96 but his Three Lions wrote their own history on Wednesday night, setting up a Sunday showdown with Italy back at Wembley.
It was far from straightforward, with Mikkel Damsgaard breaching England’s previously watertight defence with the first direct free-kick goal of the tournament on 30 minutes after the hosts had made a fast start.
But England forced an equaliser home through a Simon Kjaer own goal and while they could not get the job done in 90 minutes against an increasingly-tired Danish side, who had flown in from their quarter-final in Baku, the majority of the 60,000 fans back at Wembley roared with delight when Kane eventually beat the otherwise brilliant Kasper Schmeichel.
For Denmark, it is a valiant end to an incredible story at this tournament, and they deserve huge praise for what they have achieved after the shock of Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest in their first match.
But England and their supporters can now look forward to one more match and the country’s first major tournament final since 1966.
How England’s young lions made history…
At kick-off those supporters were eclipsing the noise created ahead of the Scotland and Germany matches earlier in the tournament. On the big screen, David Baddiel and Frank Skinner were singing along to ‘Three Lions’ and the spirit of Euro 96 had undoubtedly been recaptured.
That electric atmosphere surged with early dribbles from Raheem Sterling, when Mason Mount twisted on the edge of the Danish box, and when Kane whipped a wonderful cross just beyond the Man City man’s reach.
