Ollie Watkins struck in England’s European Championship final. The striker, who came on the field from the substitution, scored the winning goal in the Dutch net in the final moments.
10.7. 23:56•Updated 0:12
European Football Championships on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
The European football championship will be decided on Sunday between Spain and England.
England beat the Netherlands 2–1 in the semi-final on Wednesday night and will return to the final match of the European Championship.
Where previously England’s matches had been low-key, now there was plenty of drama.
– At the end, it seemed that the game could turn either way, and neither would take any more risks. England head coach Gareth Southgate however, the exchanges were successful, Urheilu’s expert Juho Rantala said right after the final whistle.
A rematch looked inevitable until the star striker Harry Kane replaced a moment earlier Ollie Watkins blew the English fans into jubilation. Watkins was able to shoot from inside the penalty area from a small angle, but slammed a hard, low shot into the back bottom corner.
When the shot came off the foot, there were two seconds left in the actual game time.
– Lightning from a dark sky! A typical Watkins finish. A run in, a really sharp turn and a surprising shot. The angle is small, but the shot catches the goalkeeper by surprise by Bart Verbruggen completely, Urheilu’s expert Erkka V. Lehtola glowed.
Xavi Simons scored the opening goal for the Netherlands after a high possession at the seven minute mark. The midfielder ran to the edge of the penalty area and shook the ball past the goalkeeper by Jordan Pickford through a blocking attempt to the goal.
England have been on the losing side in all of their play-off matches. Earlier, it scored the equalizer in extra time in the quarter-finals and the winner in the extra time, and leveled in the quarter-finals in the 80th minute.
This time the equalizer came in ten minutes. After the foul, the ball was taken to the penalty spot, from where England’s captain Kane shot his team level with his third goal of the tournament.
The ball was put into the goal in regular time for the third time, but England’s Bukayo Sakan a late goal was disallowed for offside.
Kane was replaced from the field in the 81st minute by Watkins.
28-year-old Watkins represents Aston Villa, who plays in the English Premier League, at the club level. The international match was the 15th of his career and the goal was the fourth. Previous hits had been scored in San Marino’s net during World Cup qualifiers and against Ivory Coast and Australia in training matches.
– I swear I said For Cole Palmer, that we would come to the field today and he would cheat on me. I knew he would find me as soon as he got to the ball. Then you had to be greedy. It was the best feeling ever when the ball sank into the bottom corner, Watkins rejoiced.
– I have been waiting for that moment for weeks. Getting here has required a lot of hard work. I am grateful for the opportunity and overjoyed.
England also played in the EC final in the previous games three years ago. It then led the match for more than an hour before Italy equalised. In the end, Italy celebrated the championship in London after a penalty shootout.
– We made history. Great achievement, I’m proud of everyone. This has been a really difficult tournament and it feels special that we were able to perform like this “away”. There’s still something left, Kane said on Wednesday after the win.
The races are followed moment by moment in the app and on ‘s website in this article.