England can continue to dream of crowning their titles at London's Wembley Stadium. Led by captain Harry Kane, the Three Lions stormed an overwhelmed Ukraine 4-0 (1-0) in their first European Championship semi-final in 25 years on Saturday. In front of around 11,880 spectators in Rome, coach Gareth Southgate's team earned the victory primarily with a strong second half and ended the EM fairy tale of the surprise team Ukraine. England will play against Denmark in the semi-finals at Wembley on Wednesday for the chance to win their first major football title since the 1966 World Cup triumph.
Four days after the 2-0 in the round of 16 against Germany, captain Kane scored with a brace (4th / 50th minute), defender Harry Maguire (46th) and the recently substituted Jordan Henderson (63rd) the goals for the English, who especially in the second half were convincing offensively. Before the break, the favorite had limited themselves to defending after taking the lead early on and was the only team to remain without a goal in their fifth European Championship game. There was far too little from Andrei Shevchenko's Ukraine for the next surprise at this European Championship and the very first semi-final at a major tournament.
Although the English had no home advantage for the first time in the tournament so far and had to forego fans residing in Great Britain in Rome due to the corona pandemic, there was more support for them from the stands in the Stadio Olimpico than for their opponents.
This apparently provided additional buoyancy.
In their first dangerous attack, the Three Lions lived up to their role as favorites.
After a pass from Raheem Sterling, Kane was on the spot and provided the lead with his second tournament goal.
Sancho in the starting line-up for the first time
This cracked the Ukrainians' defense prescribed by coach Shevchenko early on. That played into the cards for the previously strong defensive Englishmen. For the time being, they left the direction to the outsider. Jadon Sancho, who is still Dortmund and who is about to move to Manchester United, was not seen in this phase, nor was Mason Mount. Midfielder Mount missed the round of 16 against Germany because he had to go into isolation after contact with Scotsman Billy Gilmour, who tested positive for Corona.
The reluctance of the English after the 1-0 win encouraged the Ukrainians to attack on their own. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was challenged for the first time with a shot by Roman Yaremchuk (17th). But the English defense rarely got really embarrassed. The fact that the Ukrainians in Sergej Kriwzow had to replace their central player in the five-man defensive chain injured (35th) did not help to improve the mood.
But the English were also stingy with goal area scenes for a long time. It only became dangerous when the fast sterling was involved. The strong dribble attacker from Manchester City also prepared his team's second chance through Declan Rice (33rd), who failed to goalkeeper Georgi Buschtschan. It was only shortly before the break that the entertainment value of the previously unspectacular game increased, which was confidently led by the German referee Felix Brych. However, Sancho (40th) missed the possible 2-0 in his first really conspicuous scene.
The Ukrainians were caught off guard again after the restart. After a free kick from Luke Shaw, defender Maguire headed to the spot and made it 2-0. Just four minutes later, the English proved to be masters of efficiency again: Kane used another Shaw cross with a header to make it 3-0. The strong performance of the English in the second half was rounded off by Henderson's 4-0. The joy of the professional of Liverpool FC was particularly great. After all, it was his first goal in his long national team career.