London (AFP)

With two goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane, England bent Germany 2-0 on Tuesday in London in the round of 16 of the Euro, with a performance full of promise for the rest of the competition.

Gareth Southgate's men have still not conceded a single goal in the competition and are now among the favorites after the elimination of Portugal, France and Germany, especially as the semi-finals and the final will take place at their favorite Wembley stadium, where more than 40,000 jubilant spectators were in attendance on Tuesday.

The scoresheet had reserved a half-surprise, confirming rumors in the press about a system change for the English.

After playing his last eight games, including the entire first round, four in defense, Gareth Southgate has bet on a defense with three central.

A mirror system of that of his opponent and intended to stem the rises of Joshua Kimmich on the right and Robin Gosens on the left.

A completely defensible tactical choice but which made several experts on the plateau roll their eyes because of its "passive" side.

However, it turned out to be particularly judicious.

- Kane unlocks his meter -

First of all because the England team showed a lot of energy and courage in their way of defending by advancing, which gave them control of the match, with Germany looking for the hard blow against.

Offensively too, as soon as England had the ball, Kieran Trippier on the right came to play a winger role along the touchline, to push back the German defense and give his midfielders a little more space.

Wembley got it right, cheering scooped balls or failed opposing actions as loud as offensive set pieces or chances.

The first goal also came from a beautiful collective projection forward while the pace of the match seemed to drop a quarter of an hour from the end.

Raheem Sterling received the ball 40 yards from goal and kicked off an offense with a throw from Harry Kane, who put Jack Grealish in the back.

The midfielder shifted Luke Shaw to his left wing whose low center found Sterling for a blackboard goal (1-0, 75th), his third in this Euro.

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A few minutes later, another good sequence put Grealish in orbit on the left side and his balanced center found Kane at six meters who finally released his header (2-0, 86th).

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- Impeccable Pickford -

In the glee of the goalscorer there was obviously the joy of giving a probably definitive advantage, all the pleasure of defeating the Indian sign against an opponent who has so often frustrated the Three Lions, but also the relief of overcoming his own curse.

This success suffers in any case few disputes.

Sterling, with a strike from more than 20 meters well repelled by Manuel Neuer (16th), Harry Maguire, with a header off target (27th) and Kane, who would have opened the scoring without an intervention in extremis from Matts Hummels (45 +1) had given the English an advantage in points.

The Germans had also had their cartridges, but they came across a decidedly impeccable Jordan Pickford since the start of the competition.

The Everton goalkeeper, not always so imperial in the club, blocked an attempt by Timo Werner (32nd) like his productions at Chelsea, and he especially had a magnificent reflex in the 48th to keep the 0- 0 on a shot from Kai Havertz that he deflected above his bar.

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For Gareth Southgate, the victory marks the end of 25 years of trauma linked to his missed goal against the Germans who had shattered English dreams at their Euro-1996 at the semi-final stage.

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For Joachim Löw, on the other hand, it is the end of a very rich 15-year mandate, but undoubtedly a few years too long with the exit in the first round of the Russian World Cup in 2018 and this elimination which remains below the standards of 'a team used to the last squares.

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