England are in their second consecutive European Championship final but win or lose on Sunday, much-maligned manager Gareth Southgate has delivered a thumping blow to his critics.
Against the Netherlands, arguably the toughest team England had faced yet in Euro 2024, Southgate’s side produced their best performance, dominating the Dutch for large parts of the game, in Dortmund on Wednesday.
Southgate has been heavily criticised, not without reason, for his hesitation to make substitutes, but against the Netherlands, his changes were bold. He brought on Luke Shaw surprisingly early for Kieran Trippier, but bided his time before taking off Harry Kane and Phil Foden for Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins in the 81st minute.
He appeared to have learned from his Portugal counterpart Roberto Martinez’s mistake in persisting with Cristiano Ronaldo against France and removed Kane for the far livelier Watkins, who struck the winner with the help of a pass from Palmer just as the clock ticked over 90 minutes.
The Aston Villa striker had been a mere spectator for England’s games against Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Switzerland, only getting 20 minutes in the 1-1 draw with Denmark. But he knew that Wednesday would be the night he would get the nod, and the moment he would make all the difference.
“I swear on my kids’ life, I told Cole Palmer earlier today, we’d be coming on and he’d set me up and I’d score. And it happened,” he said after his last-gasp winner, which was laid on by Chelsea’s Palmer.
It was baffling that a player who had contributed 32 combined goals and assists over the course of the 2023-24 Premier League campaign had featured so little at the tournament. But as soon as he came off the bench, Watkins looked like he was ready to make an impact. He sent a warning to the Dutch with a darting run into the box and narrowly failed to make contact with Shaw’s cut-back.
But he stayed focused during his 10-minute cameo, and with extra-time looming, he did what Kane had failed to do —attacking the Dutch centre-backs by going around them. Stefan de Vrij and Virgil van Dijk were breathing down his neck, but he took the ball away from De Vrij, firing it through his legs and into the bottom corner past Dutch goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.
The victory was an emphatic answer after the criticism heaped on the side for some languid showings against underwhelming opposition earlier in the tournament, needing moments of brilliance from Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka to get them to the last four.
England had frustrated their followers, looking pedestrian at times in the group phase and knockout games. It was as if they were suffocating at times under a heavy burden of expectation, a feeling coach Southgate said on Tuesday that they learned to leave behind as they went deeper into the tournament.
Their round of 16 performance as they edged out Slovakia bordered on the miraculous, and there was a nervy showing as they fought back, again, to beat Switzerland on penalties in the quarter-final.
This time, however, there was a positivity about their play from the start, even if it was the third successive game where they went behind, this time to Xavi Simons’ spectacular seventh-minute effort.
Kane’s penalty equaliser — a controversial decision — was followed by a sustained period of pressure on the Dutch defence, with England shaking off the cobwebs and properly greasing the wheels of their attack.
The individual quality of their players was on full display and they had their opponents pegged back, looking dangerous every time they entered the final third. Foden was unlucky not to have them ahead at halftime with some sublime skill but had his effort cleared off the line.
The second period was not as dominant and the Dutch enjoyed their fair share of possession. But even then, whenever England moved menacingly forward, a goal looked on the cards.
It was almost to script that they engineered victory just before the final whistle, as Watkins emerged an unlikely hero not long after coming on.
The confidence boost cannot be underestimated, especially as an in-form Spain, playing with a flair reminiscent of the great La Roja team of the 2000s, await on Sunday at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
When they needed to stand up and be counted, the real England came to the party and, after almost a month of gritty competition, the tournament has two worthy finalists.
