By

Eniola Olatunji

The Three Lions of England on Wednesday at the Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund devoured the Orange Boys of Netherlands 2-1 to march majestically into their first Euro finals on foreign soil and a back to back final for that matter.

Nigerian football community had rooted for Netherlands win so the streets received a loud yell when PSG Attacking Midfielder, Xavi Simons got a loose ball off a Rice of England minor laxity and released a canon of a shot from 25 yards into the goal in the 7th minute of play. Everybody expected the Orange Boys would make mincemeat of the Lions for a barbecue.

England Captain, Harry Kane desperate for an equalizer tried a shot at goal and Dutch Defender, Dumfries struck his foot at Kane forcing him to go down quickly. VAR reviewed the Dumfries act and awarded a penalty which Kane tucked in neatly in the 18th minute for the equalizer. Dumfries got a yellow for a poke on Kane.

England almost got the 2nd goal in the 22nd minute when Foden’s foray was cleared off the line by Drumfries. The English players protested but Ref Zwayer of Germany waved the match on.

Just as fans at the stadium and watching all over the world were preparing for Extra time and possible shootouts again, Aston Villa’s Forward, Ollie Watkins hiding behind defenders got a pass from Palmer, made a quick 180 degrees turn and slotted a grass cutter ball into the far right corner for the much desired England jump into the finals. 

Cover Photo by Reuters is the winning goal by Ollie Watkins.

It was a close game statistically until about 15 minutes to go when England stepped up her game having 59-41% ball possession; 589-413 passes; but Netherlands had more foul calls 11-6 and an unitized 3-0 corner advantage.

Speaking after the game Harry Kane grinning like a school boy said “England is a match away from making history and come Sunday we will upgrade”.

England will trade tackles with Spain on Sunday 14th July at the Olympic Stadium, Berlin in the grand finale at 8pm Nigerian time.

There was a controversy of Ref. Felix Zwayer of Germany handling the match. Zwayer had once been suspended for match fixing and football fans were arguing he is not morally fit to handle such match.

The English player, Bellingham who playing in Germany uttered the statement that led to the suspension of Zwayer and other German officials featured for England today; UEFA did not react to Media inquiries on possible replacement of Zwayer as at press time of Tuesday night. 

Netherlands appeared to be statistically better than England scoring 9-5 goals; from 20-15 shots on target; two clean sheets each; Goalkeepers made 16-12 saves and Netherlands had 89-90% passing accuracy.

England topped Group C with 5 points scoring a paltry 2 goals and conceded one goal. She piped Serbia by a lone goal; played 1-1 with Denmark and goalless with Slovenia before defeating Slovakia in the Round of 16 by 2-1.  She scaled Switzerland via penalty shootouts 5-3 after 1-1 at full time in the quarterfinals.

Netherland came in as one of the best losers placing 3rd in group D after Austria and France with 4 points scoring 4 goals and conceding 4 goals. Netherlands beat Poland 2-1; drew 0-0 with France and lost 2-3 to Austria. She dismissed Romania 3-0 in the Round of 16 at Munich. The Orange Boys piped Turkey 2-1 in the quarterfinals.

Both sides had nine friendly matches and only two competitive matches between them. In 2001 England bowed 0-2; it was 1-1 in 2002; Goalless draw in 2005; 1-1 in 2006; 2-2 in 2009; Netherlands won 3-2 in 2012; also won 2-1 in London in 2016; played 1-1 draw in 2018 before England visited them again that year and wonby a lone goal.

On 16th June 1990 at the world cup Group F it was goalless but at the Euro Nations league played 6th June 2019 which was the last time they met, Netherlands won 3-1 after extra time.

England appeared first on the Euro scene placing 3rd at the Euro 68 games beating Soviet Union 2-0. In 1996she hosted and lost to Germany 6-5 on penalties after 1-1 at full time on 26th June. Alan Shearer was the highest goal scorer in the tournament with 5 goals. In 2020 when many countries hosted to celebrate 60 years of European football, England was Runners-up as Italy won her 2nd title that year via penalties 3-2 after 1-1 at full time. That year, Rashford, Sancho and Saka lost their penalty kicks and they were crucified. In the match played at Wembley, Kane and Maguire scored. Christiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Patrik Schick of Czech were highest goal scorers with 5 goals each. 

Netherlands first podium finish was 1976 in Yugoslavia when she beat the hosts 302 after extra time. Czech walloped the Orange Boys 3-1 in the semifinal that year. In 1988 in Germany she defeated Soviet Union 2-0 to lift her first and only title. She had beaten hosts Germany 2-1 in the semifinal at Hamburg on 21st June. Marco Van Bastan was highest goal scorer with 5 goals.

In 1992 she lost the semifinal on penalties 4-5 after 2-2 at full time in Gothenburg. In 2000 when she co-hosted with Belgium she lost in the semifinal 1-3 on penalties after 0-0 at full time on 29th June at Amsterdam.

This is the 17th edition of the European Championship that has now seen 140 goals scored in 50 matches  making an average of 2.28 goals per match with 2,615,688 attendances as at today (60, 926 fans for today at England versus Netherlands  just 1,116 fans from the France vs Spain of the 1st semifinal match).
 
There are now six joint top scorers in Georges Mikautadze of Georgia; Jamal Musiala of Germany, Cody Gako of Netherlands, Ivan Schranz of Slovakia, Danni Olmo of Spain and now Harry Kane of England all having three goals each. Harry Kane and Danni Olmo who are still in the game may lift the Golden Boot meant for highest goal scorer.