Euro 2024: Ollie Watkins solves it in the last minute, England joins Spain in final
Holland-England 1-2
Three years after the final they lost in front of a friendly crowd at Wembley to Italy, England punched another ticket to a European Championship final, beating Holland 2-1 with a goal scored by Ollie Watkins past the 90'minute mark, when everything seemed set for the match to continue into extra time. It will therefore be Southgate’s men who will face Spain on Sunday evening.
The start of the match, however, did not seem to smile at all on the English, on the contrary: Xavi Simons, on 7' came up with a spectacular conclusion from the distance that left Pickford no chance and put the Oranje ahead. The 1-0 lasts for the space of 11 minutes: Dumfries intervenes in an uncoordinated manner on Harry Kane in the box, German referee Zwayer checks the action on the moviola on the field and awards the penalty, which Kane himself transforms: è 1-1 at 18'.
The match è heated, the pace high: Dumfries saves on the line at 22' a conclusion from Foden that seemed destined to go in the goal, and è the same Inter side to come close to the new orange lead, hitting the crossbar at 29'. Two minutes later è Foden was again the protagonist: the Manchester City player’s conclusion flew past Verbruggen but was printed against the post.
The balance persists even in the second half: Van Dijk engages Pickford on 69' ten minutes later Saka goes in on goal from the other side of the field, but è offside. Extra time seemed inevitable, but here stands as the English national hero, in minute 91, Ollie Watkins, who entered a few minutes earlier in place of Kane: Palmer signs the assist, the Aston Villa striker guesses the winning diagonal and beats Verbruggen.
Koeman tries everything in the continuation of the recovery by inserting Brobbey and Zirkzee, but England takes no risks and preserves the lead until the triple whistle: only regrets for Holland, it will be the English to face Spain on Sunday evening, in the final scheduled at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
