England broke the semi-final cap in a major football tournament. The title match for the first time in 55 years is waiting.
Harry Kane converted the rebound after the first penalty was saved in the 104th minute, beating England 2-1 against Denmark in the European Championship semifinals at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday.
England will return to the National Soccer Stadium on Sunday to play against Italy in their first final since the 1966 World Cup. It remains the only international title in England.
In the 55 years in between, the British lost four semifinals in either the World Cup or the European Championship. As such, it was taken up as one of the most important victories in British football history, and the celebration proved it exactly.
Denmark’s Mickel Damsgard celebrates after scoring the team’s first goal in the Euro 2020 Football Championship Semifinals between England and Denmark on Wednesday, July 7, 2021 at Wembley Stadium in London.
Kane led a delighted English fan in a crowd of over 60,000 with the production of “Sweet Caroline”. This is the largest gathering of sporting events in the UK since the outbreak of the coronavirus about 16 months ago. Players and management roamed around the field, waving to fans and their loved ones. England coach Gareth Southgate was serenade in the song, and he would have appreciated this victory more than anyone else.
Two of these semi-final defeats (1990 and 1996) were determined by penalty shootouts, and Southgate missed a serious kick against Germany in one of them. And the shootout looked like England and Denmark were heading until Raheem Sterling wriggled in the lower right area, cut through and faced Matthias Jensen’s challenge.
The contacts looked minimal and needed a video review.
Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel guessed the right way to block Kane’s penalty, but the English captain reacted quickly and put the ball into the net six yards away.
The Danish players were almost kneeling at that point, driven by their determination to win the Christian Erisken title after falling to the field on the group stage.
