Dominic Fifield's player ratings
With the manager’s verdict in, it’s time for this MBM report to wind down. Congratulations to the Netherlands, who progress to the final against Portugal. Commiserations to England, who will try to end their season on a bittersweet high by winning the third-place play-off against Switzerland. It promises to be a super Sunday as the first Nations League reaches its climax. Thanks for reading. Nighty night!
Gareth Southgate’s verdict. “An incredible evening, really, with the twists and turns of the match. I think we’ve learned so much by playing against a top-quality team posing different problems to ones we’ve played in the past. We got to grips with those issues, we had a threat throughout, but obviously we’ve conceded really poor goals. At any level you can’t concede those types of goals. We also had a couple of really good opportunities to score, and you have to take those chances. So it’s difficult to put into complete context at the moment because there’s so much going through your head. On 82 minutes, you thought you scored to put ourselves in an incredible position. But the matter that was disallowed, and the manner their second one went in, really deflated the team at a moment when their energy was running low. We have to play out better. I don’t think it’s a case of stopping doing what we are doing. The Dutch pressed really well, and we weren’t quite as sharp in some of our decision-making. But we’ll be stronger for our experiences. We can’t have too many of these high-level matches. And we’ve got to give a really good account of ourselves on Sunday.”
Harry Kane speaks. “Obviously it’s a massive disappointment, having been ahead at half-time. I thought we came out a little bit slow in the second half, dropped too deep, and it took them to equalise for us to step it up again. And when we did I thought we played really well. Of course we scored a goal that we thought was going to be the winner, but that’s the fine margins in big games like this. It didn’t go our way today. We know we made mistakes but that’s part of learning as a team and we take that on the chin, because that’s the way we want to play. Of course we’re disappointed, but every disappointment we have to learn from and get better.”
Daniel Taylor was our man at the Estádio D Afonso Henriques in Guimarães. Here’s his verdict on another night of semi-final despair for the Three Lions.
Sterling makes a strong point. If you’d told anyone this time last year that England would contest both the World Cup semi-finals and the Nations League semi-finals within 11 months, you’d have been told to put the pipe down. But this England team are now operating at the business end of big tournaments. There’s still plenty of work to do, and while tonight’s defensive calamities will get all the attention, the lack of midfield control needs addressing as well. But they’re heading in the right direction, and there are worse places to finish than third or fourth, right? Or maybe it’s still too raw for talk like this. “Not bothered anyway,” sniffs Christopher Lee. “Stupid tinpot made-up trophy anyway. Not even bothered. YOU’RE CRYING.”
A word with a reflective Raheem Sterling. “I thought at times we soaked up pressure really well. Towards the end of the second half I thought we were the better team. But if you make silly mistakes at this level you get punished for it. VAR is one of those things. One day it might help us, but today it didn’t. We’re disappointed. They got their pressing right on the night, and we made a few mistakes. We tried but it didn’t work. We have to keep trying. It just wasn’t to be. I think we’ve still made progress to get to this stage, and it’s all about kicking on now, and trying to achieve the last bit.”
EXTRA TIME, FULL TIME: Netherlands 3-1 England
England’s 53-year wait for a major final will go on. The Netherlands will play Portugal in the very first Nations League final! England face another third-place match, this time against Switzerland.
Updated
120 min: Depay nearly latches onto a loose ball down the right, but Pickford is out quickly to gather on the edge of his box. A 4-1 scoreline would have been harsh on England.
119 min: The English fans have been the noisiest for most of the evening, but now it’s only the Dutch who can be heard. They give it the olés as the oranje ping it around.
117 min: Kane has a shot from distance. It’s deflected over for a corner, from which nothing occurs. England’s shoulders collectively slump.
116 min: England have been the architect of their own downfall. Depay looks to add to their misery with a shot from 30 yards, but it flies over the bar. It’s not going to matter.
GOAL! Netherlands 3-1 England (Promes 114)
Another Dutch goal, another English defensive fiasco. Stones, deep as can be, passes upfield to Barkley, on the edge of his box facing his own goal. A heavy touch allows Depay to scoot off with the ball down the inside-left channel. He draws Pickford, then cuts back for Promes, who lashes into the empty net.
Updated
113 min: The Netherlands make their final change. De Jong makes his way to the far side of the pitch, because he’s the one being hooked. Strootman comes on in his stead, once he leaves.
112 min: Walker slings in a fine cross from the right. Kane’s up in the hope of winning the header, but he’s too eager and bashes into a well-positioned De Ligt. A free kick, and the clock is now England’s sworn enemy.
111 min: England have to take chances now, and there are gaps at the back. Holland nearly exploit this state of affairs when Depay screams down the right, but his ball inside, with Wijnaldum free, is too strong for his team-mate.
110 min: Alli needlessly drags down De Jong, and Holland take their own sweet time to restart the match. Textbook game management, and very frustrating for England, who have no option but to suck it up.
108 min: Kane bustles around the edge of the Dutch box, then turns on a sixpence and bursts down the inside left. He nearly breaks through but De Ligt slides in at the expense of a corner. No great loss, because Henderson’s delivery fails to clear the first man.
106 min: Van de Beek is booked for coming straight through the back of Barkley.
And we’re off again! England use up their bonus extra-time substitution, going for broke by replacing Declan Rice with Dele Alli.
EXTRA TIME, HALF TIME: Netherlands 2-1 England
England needed to hear that whistle. They were going nowhere. And they need a goal desperately.
103 min: An awful lot of aimless stuff in the middle of the park. This benefits Holland much more than England, the scoreline being what it is.
101 min: A free kick for Holland out on the left. Depay fizzes it from a tight angle towards the bottom left. Pickford gathers. England counter through Sterling down the right. He’s sent free but miles offside. The flag doesn’t go up immediately, though, and England’s fans want a penalty as De Ligt bowls Sterling over. But they’re not getting it. Up goes the flag, and that’s that.
99 min: Holland have their tails up. A corner on the left. Depay flashes a header goalwards at point-blank range. Pickford saves instinctively, brilliantly. Another corner, which Van Dijk meets with a header that’s going into the bottom left. Kane clears off the line.
GOAL! Netherlands 2-1 England (Walker og 97)
What a complete farce! Maguire plays the ball back to Stones, who faffs around on the edge of his own box. He’s stripped of possession by Depay, who is clear! Pickford parries the shot magnificently, but the ball breaks left. Promes is getting there ahead of both Pickford and Walker. His attempt to bundle home is going wide left, but he’s knocked the ball against Walker’s outstretched leg, over Pickford and in!
Updated
95 min: And so Depay takes. But he doesn’t get it anywhere near the top right corner, where he was aiming, and it’s an easy claim for Pickford in the middle of goal.
94 min: Stones miscontrols and then hacks De Jong to the floor. A free kick just to the left of the D. Depay fancies it.
93 min: Space for Dumfries down the right. He curls into the centre. Van de Beek winds his neck back to head. Stones gets in the road to divert the ball out for a corner. From the set piece, Van Dijk rises highest and plants a header towards the bottom right. Kane clears off the line!
91 min: Lingard is quickly scampering down the right, and gets two opportunities to cross. Neither is taken.
Here we go again! England get extra time underway. The Netherlands were the better team for most of the second half, but England will take heart at their strong finish to the game. So this is going to be some 30 minutes. Holland swap Bergwijn with Propper.
Updated
FULL TIME: Netherlands 1-1 England
Extra time it is, then! It was always going to happen, wasn’t it? It’s a semi-final. This is how England roll.
Updated
90 min +6: And now here he is sashaying in from the left and grazing a shot off the top of the crossbar! England yet again so close to the final!
90 min +5: England have been much improved since the equaliser, and the introduction of Henderson, who has given them better shape. Sterling has been much more involved.
90 min +4: England escape. Maguire is caught napping near the left-hand corner flag, at the edge of his own box. Bergwijn robs him and pulls back for Depay, who leans back and slices the ball high and horribly wide with the goal gaping. For a second, that looked like it.
90 min +3: Lingard dribbles hard at the Holland back line. He’s got them retreating. Once he reaches the edge of the box, he opens his body and tries to guide a shot into the bottom right. It’s just wide.
90 min +2: A free kick for England out on the left. Chilwell loops it towards the Dutch box. Maguire concedes a free kick by mounting Blind on the edge of the area, and there goes that pressure.
90 min +1: The first of seven added minutes - thanks to VAR - passes reasonably quietly under the circumstances. But the tension in Guimaraes is palpable.
90 min: The ball bobbles around the edge of the Dutch area. It breaks to Kane, who spins and whistles a first-time shot towards the bottom left. It’s just wide. Cillessen had it covered.
Updated
88 min: Phew. Say what you will about VAR, it certainly delivers drama. Both of those decisions were correct. But England were so, so close to the final there. Millimetres away.
87 min: Nope. The ball clearly hit his back, not his arm. But England still got away with one there, because the ball had broken off Chilwell to Bergwijn, who really should have scored from ten yards, but sent a poor effort off target.
86 min: And then, adding to the VAR drama, Dumfries cuts in from the right and smashes a cross into Chilwell. Could this be a handball?!
NO GOAL. Netherlands 1-1 England
85 min: Lingard was indeed a boot offside. It’s all level again.
84 min: But there’s a VAR check. A suspicion that Lingard was a smidgen offside.
Updated
GOAL! Netherlands 1-2 England (Lingard 83)
England split Holland apart with ease! Chilwell bombs down the left and cuts inside. He passes infield for Sterling, who flicks back for Barkley. The midfielder slips an instant pass down the middle to release Lingard, who draws Cillessen and slips the ball into the bottom right!
Updated
81 min: Sterling has an opportunity to run at the Dutch defence, but inexplicably leaves the ball behind. A few players betrayed by their nerves right now.
79 min: This is a wild end-to-end affair now. Sterling nearly releases Kane down the inside-right channel, but just as the England captain shapes to shoot, De Jong slides in to block. Then Dumfries is once again found in acres on the right, but can’t find a team-mate with England light at the back. A real sense, at the end of a long season, that nobody fancies extra time tonight.
78 min: It’s not immediately successful, as Van de Beek is afforded a ludicrous amount of space down the middle. He slips a ball wide for Dumfries, who is free just inside the box on the right. The ball comes back to Van de Beek, ten yards out. He’s got the goal at his mercy but leans back and hoicks high over the bar. What a chance!
77 min: Henderson comes on for Delph, presumably with a remit to wrest back control of the midfield.
76 min: England enjoy their first sustained period in the Dutch half for quite a while. There’s some head tennis on the edge of the box, but the pressure’s relieved when Kane nudges De Ligt out of the way when the player’s in mid-air.
75 min: Extra time and penalties, then?
GOAL! Netherlands 1-1 England (De Ligt 73)
This had been coming. The corner’s curled towards the near post. De Ligt, at fault for England’s goal, makes up for it by rising over Walker and bashing a header down and into the bottom right. Unstoppable! Pickford had no chance.
Updated
72 min: Promes is quickly into the action, and from a position 25 yards out, down the inside-left channel, he curls towards the top right. The ball’s deflected out for a corner, and the set piece comes to nothing. But Holland are beginning to pin England back, and Dumfries earns another corner, out on the right, off Chilwell.
70 min: Kane is booked for an agricultural hack on Blind from behind. That was a saucy one. Another referee might have shown him a red, because he wasn’t going for the ball.
Updated
69 min: An England free kick from the left is headed harmlessly wide by Stones. They’ve had their chances since the restart to put this match to bed.
68 min: That double change, then. Babel and De Roon are replaced by Promes and Van de Beek.
66 min: Sterling is dispossessed in the middle of the park and suddenly Wijnaldum is wheeching towards the England box. But his eventual dig has no oomph, and Pickford can gather it easily. On the touchline, Ronald Koeman is preparing a double substitution.
64 min: Dumfries and Depay combine well down the inside-right channel, teeing up De Roon, whose shot from the edge of the box is blocked by one of his own men. A look of pure frustration spreads across De Roon’s face. Holland have all of the ball, but England are holding firm.
63 min: Chilwell knocks Dumfries to the ground and concedes a free kick out on the right. The delivery of the free kick is a nonsense. For all Holland’s possession and pressure, Pickford has had very little to do.
61 min: Nothing much happens at the corner. Maguire is flattened by De Roon and that’s a free kick for England. Then Sancho, who had that glorious chance to make it 0-2, is replaced by Lingard.
60 min: Van Dijk, who is getting pelters from England fans every time he touches the ball, strokes a pass wide right for Dumfries. He can’t get a cross away, but soon Holland earn a corner. From which ...
Updated
58 min: Holland try to establish a semblance of order by knocking the ball around the middle awhile. England are chasing shadows right now.
56 min: A real feel of Next Goal Wins. It’s edge-of-the-seat stuff, with both teams giving up chances. It surely won’t end with the scoreline as it is.
54 min: What a chance this was for England! Delph crosses from the left, the ball dropping onto Sancho’s head, six yards out. He surely must score, but hammers his header straight at Cillessen. Then up the other end, a great chance for Holland, as Depay strips a faffing Walker of possession, races goalwards, and batters a shot straight at Pickford. He tries to meet the rebound with a spectacular bicycle kick, but takes a fresh-air swipe instead. The England fans enjoyed that one.
Updated
52 min: Bergwijn cuts in from the right, enters the England box, and runs the ball out of play. But has Chilwell clattered into him illegally? There’s certainly contact, as the full back came across the front of the attacker. But the referee’s not interested, and it’s not so obvious that the VAR chappie is going to get involved. England might have got away with one there.
51 min: De Roon bundles Barkley to the floor, and that’s a free kick for England deep in Dutch territory. Kane floats it into the box. It drops to Maguire, just to the right. He should shoot goalwards, but opts to fire it into the mixer instead. After some pinball, Holland clear.
49 min: Sterling scampers clear down the left and chips inside for Kane. Cillessen tips the cross out for a corner. But then the flag goes up for offside. That was a very tight call.
Updated
48 min: Wijnaldum drops deep and assumes the role of playmaker, spraying a pass wide right for Dumfries, who is in acres. But the ball isn’t accurate and flies out for a goal kick.
47 min: A ponderous start to the half.
Holland get the second half underway. And England have made a change. Marcus Rashford can’t continue after taking that knock late in the first half, and Harry Kane is on in his place. And he’s got the armband back as well. “I’ve still not forgiven England for only winning 4-1 in that match at Euro 96,” admits Simon McMahon. “I think they did it on purpose to ensure that heroic Scotland didn’t qualify. We’re still in the huff about it now actually, resulting in a 23-year self-imposed exile from the Euros. So take that, England.”
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Netherlands 0-1 England
And the referee blows for half-time. England haven’t been particularly impressive, but Marcus Rashford took full advantage of Matthijs de Ligt’s brain fade, and they’re 45 minutes away from their first final in 53 years!
45 min +3: ... Stones runs under the ball, but gets away with it as De Ligt heads weakly wide left. A real chance to make up for the penalty, right at the end of the half!
45 min +2: Depay thinks he’s been dragged down in the England area by Chilwell, as the pair contest a long ball, but it’s not a penalty. England don’t clear, though, Stones faffing around and gifting Holland possession. Wijnaldum is able to take a snapshot in a crowded box. It’s deflected wide right for a corner. From which ...
45 min +1: In fact Chilwell takes the resulting free kick himself, though it’s pretty aimless. The Netherlands clear their lines.
45 min: Chilwell is being checked for concussion. For a while, it doesn’t look as though he’s going to be able to continue. But with half-time beckoning ... there will be two added minutes ... he plays on.
44 min: Dumfries receives his overdue yellow card after leaping into Chilwell in a very confused manner. Chilwell’s taken quite a bang there. It was a very poorly timed challenge.
42 min: From the set piece, Delph has a bash from distance. Cillessen gathers. Holland counter, and Pickford is forced to race out of his box to clear a long ball down the centre. Depay is coming in to challenge, and the two clatter into each other just outside the area. Free kick for England, though there wasn’t any malicious intent from Depay.
Updated
41 min: Barkley is enjoying himself. He starts an attack deep in his own half, chipping wide right for Walker, then picks up possession again inside the centre circle. He’s barged over by Wijnaldum. Free kick.
39 min: Rashford needs some attention from the physio, having taken a hard but fair knock from Dumfries. He’ll be good to continue, though.
37 min: Some high-speed bagatelle in the England box ends with Depay taking a slapshot at goal. Pickford gathers, and the striker was offside anyway. Then England break upfield, and Sancho nutmegs De Ligt, who has had a torrid few minutes. Sancho then slips a ball forward for Rashford, who is about to shoot inside the Dutch box when Dumfries comes in from the side with a wonderfully timed saving tackle. It’s Cillessen’s turn to gather.
Updated
35 min: Babel, 25 yards out, shoots diagonally towards the bottom-left corner. Pickford saves, and gathers, though he made a meal of that. He was fortunate nobody in oranje was available to take advantage of his loose handling.
33 min: That goal came out of nowhere, with Holland having been in control. And to think it was Maguire who looked as though he’d got a catastrophic mistake in him this evening. A steep learning curve for young De Ligt.
GOAL! Netherlands 0-1 England (Rashford 32 pen)
After a long wait while the referee does his admin, Rashford takes the spot kick as cool as you like! He sends Cillessen to his right with the eyes, then rolls the ball into the bottom right. How cool was that? Harry Kane would have been proud of that one.
Updated
Penalty for England!
30 min: What a farce this is! De Roon passes back to De Ligt, to the left of the Dutch D. De Ligt takes his eye off the ball and lets it roll under his foot. Rashford nips in and is then upended as he races past the young defender. The referee points to the spot, and De Ligt goes into the book.
Updated
29 min: Walker channels his inner Beckenbauer and romps from his right-back position to a central position deep in Dutch territory. It’s all in vain, though, because his pass wide left to Chilwell finds his man offside.
27 min: As if to illustrate that fact, Maguire takes a free kick just inside his own half and blooters it straight out of play near the corner flag. Nowhere near a team-mate. If nothing else, it’s good to know he’d have a future in rugby union should his football career ever go south.
25 min: De Ligt takes the ball off Stones and breezes down the right. He crosses towards nobody in particular and Pickford is able to pluck the ball from the sky without fuss. But England are second best right now.
24 min: Maguire has been very sloppy so far. Now he gets in a muddle with Chilwell, and nearly allows Dumfries to steal away with the ball. The route to the box is shut just in time. Then Bergwijn finds space down the right and loops a cross, but Babel is too far out to power a header goalwards.
Updated
23 min: So having said that, here’s the first sleepy lull of the game. Pulitzer, please!
21 min: Depay dribbles hard down the left and cuts inside. He shoots towards the bottom left. Pickford is behind it all the way. England try to launch a counter, but this time Dumfries has the measure of Sancho down the left with a perfectly timed tackle. It’s an entertaining match.
19 min: Chilwell turns on the jets and zips down the right. Dumfries, who has been exposed twice already by Sancho, and looks to be a weak point in the Dutch defence, cynically brings the England left-back down. He should be booked, but it’s just a free kick. And the set piece is a waste of time, as Delph blocks Van Dijk on the edge of the box, releasing the pressure on Holland.
Updated
18 min: Blind is sent scampering down the left by Babel’s simple pass. He reaches the byline and whips low and hard into the centre. Pickford does extremely well to get down and smother in these slippery conditions.
16 min: Holland stroke the ball about for a while. They’re beginning to establish a little control. And whenever they lose the ball, their pressing game forces England into basic mistakes, and the cycle begins again.
14 min: Depay, under no pressure whatsoever in the centre circle, sprays one of the wildest passes you’ll ever see high into the stand on the left. That must have been one hell of a rush of blood. Ronald Koeman stares at his striker in the ruminative style.
12 min: England get away with one. Maguire and Rice are caught snoozing just inside their own half, and allow Wijnaldum to race into the England half. It’s two on one! But Wijnaldum’s pass to Depay on his left is a little behind the striker, who can’t check or sort his feet out. That’s a huge let-off. Maguire and Rice were truly faffing around there.
10 min: Walker runs at Holland with the Dutch light at the back. He tries to slip Rashford away, threading a pass down the middle, but he overcooks it and Cillessen gathers. A promising opportunity passed up.
8 min: Now it’s Maguire’s turn to cough up possession. Bergwijn then dribbles down the inside-right channel, where there’s a big gap in the English defence, and batters a shot straight at Pickford. It’s been an open start.
7 min: A poor ball crossfield pass from Barkley is miscontrolled by Walker, who gifts Depay the chance of a shot from the edge of the box. Depay takes too long and is closed down.
Updated
5 min: Now it’s Holland’s turn to look nervous. Sancho again worries Dumfries, who passes back to Cillessen. He slices out of play; the throw comes to nothing. Now both keepers have got away with one.
4 min: But it’s England who launch the first meaningful attack of the game. Sancho turns Dumfries this way and that as he scampers down the left wing. He dinks into the middle. Sterling nearly gets a head on it. Blind is forced to hack out for a corner. The ball’s swung in from the right. Maguire volleys hard, but miles over.
2 min: But nothing comes of the resulting throw, deep in English territory. A cracking atmosphere in Guimaraes.
There’s a minute’s silence for erstwhile Uefa bigwig Lennart Johansson ... and then the second Nations League semi-final is go! England get the match underway. Possession’s given up within 12 seconds, and Holland take the opportunity of passing the ball around the back to make sure everyone gets a feel. Then they launch forward. Chilwell intercepts and passes back down the England right towards Pickford, who slices out of play. A shaky start by England.
Updated
The teams are out! It’s been tipping down all day in northern Portugal. The pitch is well watered. A fine opportunity for a good slide tackle. England wear their famous white shirts, Holland their equally storied oranje. The national anthems are sung: England go first, then it’s the turn of the Dutch. We’ll be off in a minute!
Updated
England and the Netherlands haven’t met each other too often in competitive matches. Marco van Basten’s hat-trick saw off England at Euro 88; their current manager’s free kick saw off Graham Taylor in the USA 94 qualifiers; there was a instantly forgettable goalless draw at Italia 90; and of course there was that night at Wembley in 1996. It’s been a while!
And now it’s the turn of Ronald Koeman. “It is a big challenge. We think we have improved from the time we played England in a friendly. They are strong, they’re in a good way. They have the experience of playing in a world championship, we don’t have that one. But we do have great players, and the team has a good balance. We have only two players who were in the Champions League final, and I always say that if you win titles you don’t feel tired, you want to flow. Virgil and Georginio wanted to play.”
Gareth Southgate explains his decision to keep the Liverpool and Spurs lads on the bench. “We were always of a mind that the Champions League final would be a hugely intense occasion, as well as the physical efforts. We’ve had a really good group working with us for a couple of weeks, and they’ve had more opportunity to focus on this game. And it gives us some real strength to come from the bench. It’s never easy, but they’re brilliant professionals and are always supportive of the team. They understand the rationale. Everybody’s available. We want to keep developing players, we’re building for next year as well as wanting to win this. Raheem Sterling’s growing maturity and confidence means that the captaincy is a well-deserved honour.”
England rest their Liverpool and Spurs contingent in the wake of last Saturday’s Champions League final. All seven - Jordan Henderson, Joe Gomez, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Harry Kane, Danny Rose, Eric Dier and Dele Alli - are on the bench. Tonight’s captain Raheem Sterling will lead out a team with five changes to the side that won 5-1 in Montenegro in March as John Stones, Ben Chilwell, Fabian Delph, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford step up.
By contrast, Holland go with their new European champions. Virgil van Dijk and Georginio Wijnaldum both start. Ajax, one second away from that final, have three representatives in Daley Blind, Matthijs de Ligt and the Barca-bound Frenkie de Jong. And up front there’s a couple of old Premier League pals in Ryan Babel and Memphis Depay, the latter in the middle of a fecund creative period for club and country, having either made or scored 21 goals in his last 20 games.
Updated
The teams
Netherlands: Cillessen, Dumfries, de Ligt, van Dijk, Blind, de Roon, F de Jong, Wijnaldum, Bergwijn, Depay, Babel.
Subs: Vermeer, Bizot, Hateboer, Ake, Propper, Promes, van Aanholt, de Vrij, Strootman, Vilhena, L de Jong, van de Beek.
England: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Chilwell, Rice, Delph, Barkley, Sancho, Rashford, Sterling.
Subs: Butland, Heaton, Rose, Dier, Lingard, Henderson, Kane, Gomez, Keane, Alli, Wilson, Alexander-Arnold.
Referee: Clement Turpin (France).
That’s much-deserved reward for Sterling, who leads his country out on his 50th international appearance. The naked eye will tell you that the Manchester City winger is a world-class act, there’s no need for stats. Then again, the numbers don’t hurt either: having scored just twice in his first 45 matches for England, games 46 to 49 have produced another six goals. That includes a hat-trick against the Czechs, a couple in Spain, and a satisfying goal stuffed down the throats of the Montenegro supporters giving him abuse. Throw in a domestic treble and the FWA Footballer of the Year award, and it’s safe to say he’s on a roll.
Harry Kane hasn’t made it, so Raheem Sterling will captain England tonight. Full team news to follow, but here’s the England starting XI: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Chilwell, Rice, Delph, Barkley, Sterling, Sancho, Rashford.
Style guide.
GEORGE: What is Holland?
JERRY: What do you mean, ‘what is it?’ It’s a country right next to Belgium.
GEORGE: No, that’s the Netherlands.
JERRY: Holland is the Netherlands.
GEORGE: Then who are the Dutch?
According to the Guardian style guide, Holland “should not be used to mean the Netherlands (of which it is a region), with the exception of the Dutch football team, who are conventionally known as Holland.” So there you have it. Please consider both names interchangeable for the purposes of this report. Hup Holland Hup!
Preamble
England have only contested five major semi-finals in their entire history. The 1966 World Cup. The 1968 European Championship. The 1990 World Cup. Euro 96. And of course the 2018 World Cup, Harry Kane, Kieran Trippier, Gareth Southgate’s waistcoat, all that. Last summer seems like yesterday.
You’ll have noticed that their hit-rate hasn’t been too clever. Just the 20 percent. They’ve lost their last four semis on the bounce. Put another way, they’ve not reached a final for over half a century. Oh England!
But all runs have to end sometime. And since Southgate’s youthful side announced itself in Russia last year, they’ve gone on to prove themselves as the real deal, rescuing a slow-starting Nations League campaign with a wonderful win in Spain and a revenge victory over their World Cup conquerors Croatia. Throw in a couple of five-goal hauls against the Czech Republic and Montenegro, and England are currently on a five-game winning streak. Could that 53-year wait for another final end tonight?
Perhaps, though tonight’s opponents are on the upward curve themselves. Having failed to qualify for the last World Cup, the Netherlands picked themselves up, dusted themselves down, and reasserted themselves with a couple of huge Nations League wins over world champions France and old rivals Germany. Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum have been finding it hard not to score, there’s a new defensive order of Virgil van Dijk and Matthijs de Ligt, and everyone’s tails are up again.
This one’s in the balance alright. Deliciously poised. Which country will make it to Sunday’s final against Portugal, and get the chance to lift the second major international title in their history? The 1966 World Cup winners, or the champions of Euro 88? It’ll be a blast finding out, possibly after extra time and penalties. It’s on!
Kick off: 7.45pm BST.
Updated
