England can easily reach the semi-finals against Ukraine

England can continue to dream of crowning their titles at London’s Wembley Stadium. Led by captain Harry Kane, the Three Lions stormed against an overwhelmed Ukraine 4-0 (1-0) in their first European Championship semi-final in 25 years. In front of around 11,880 spectators in Rome, coach Gareth Southgate’s team earned the victory primarily with a strong second half and ended the European Championship fairy tale of the surprise team Ukraine. England will play against Denmark in the semi-finals at Wembley on Wednesday for the chance of their first major football title since the 1966 World Cup triumph.

Four days after the 2-0 win in the round of 16 against Germany, captain Kane scored the goals for the English with a brace (4th / 50th minute), defensive boss Harry Maguire (46th) and the recently substituted Jordan Henderson (63rd) especially in the second half were convincing offensively. Before the break, after the early lead, the favorite had mainly limited itself to defending and was the only team to remain without conceding a goal in the fifth European Championship game. There was far too little from Andrei Shevchenko’s Ukraine for the next surprise at this European Championship and the very first semi-final at a major tournament.

The first attack is successful

Although the English had no home advantage for the first time in the tournament so far and had to forego fans residing in Great Britain in Rome due to the corona pandemic, there was more support for them from the stands in the Stadio Olimpico than for their opponents. This apparently provided additional buoyancy. In their first dangerous attack, the Three Lions lived up to their role as favorites. After a brilliant pass from Raheem Sterling, Kane was on the spot and provided the lead with his second tournament goal.

This cracked the Ukrainians’ defensive stipulated by coach Shevchenko early on. That played into the cards for the previously strong defensive Englishmen. For the time being, they left the direction to the outsider. Jadon Sancho, who was still Dortmund and who is about to move to Manchester United, was not seen in this phase, nor was Mason Mount. Midfielder Mount missed the round of 16 against Germany because he had to go into isolation after contact with Scotsman Billy Gilmour, who tested positive for Corona.

The reluctance of the English after the 1-0 win encouraged the Ukrainians to attack on their own. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was challenged for the first time with a shot by Roman Yaremchuk (17th). But the English defense rarely got really embarrassed. The fact that the Ukrainians in Sergej Kriwzow had to replace their central player in the five-man defensive chain injured (35th) did not help to improve the mood.

After the restart, the Ukrainians will be caught off guard again

But even the English were stingy with goal area scenes for a long time. Only when the fast sterling was involved did it get dangerous. The strong dribble attacker from Manchester City also prepared his team’s second chance through Declan Rice (33.), who failed to goalkeeper Georgi Buschtschan. It was only shortly before the break that the entertainment value of the previously unspectacular game, which was confidently led by the German referee Felix Brych, increased. However, Sancho (40th) missed the possible 2-0 in his first really conspicuous scene

The Ukrainians were caught off guard again after the restart. Defender Maguire headed a free kick from Luke Shaw and made it 2-0. Just four minutes later, the English proved themselves to be masters of efficiency again: Kane used another Shaw cross with a header to make it 3-0.

The strong performance of the English was rounded off in the second half by Henderson’s 4-0. The Liverpool professional was particularly happy. After all, it was his first goal in his long national team career.