Good things come to those wait, and Ollie Watkins had been waiting patiently on the sidelines for the nearly the entirety of Euro 2024. But in Dortmund, all it took was a 10-minute cameo off the bench for him to deliver a show-stopping performance to leave the Netherlands speechless and send England to their second-successive Euros final.
Watkins 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 told ITV moments after his last-gasp winner, which was indeed laid on by Chelsea’s Palmer.
The striker had a sense of destiny about the occasion and England have seemed destined for something special in this tournament. How else to explain their puzzling passage through Germany? The Three Lions stunk out the group stage and needed moments of brilliance from Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka to get them to the last four.
They conceded the first goal for the third consecutive knockout game, but once more they rallied and are heading for Berlin on Sunday, all thanks to the understated leadership of Gareth Southgate.
Spain will be confident of winning the final if they can replicate the wonderful form they have shown throughout the tournament, but they should not underestimate this England’s team capacity to turn dust to gold.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from Signal-Iduna Park…
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Getty ImagesWINNER: Ollie Watkins
It did not feel right 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 Watkins was just waiting for the right moment.
As soon as he came off the bench, the Aston Villa striker looked like he was ready to make an impact. A few minutes after arriving he made a darting run into the box and narrowly failed to make contact with Luke Shaw’s cut-back.
He stayed focused, and with extra-time looming, he did what Harry Kane had failed to do for most of the game, attacking the centre-backs and demanding the ball. He still had loads to do, with Stefan de Vrij breathing down his neck, but he took the ball away from the defender, firing it through his legs and into the bottom corner.
Watkins has had a patchy England career, getting very few opportunities due to Kane’s consistency and Southgate’s reluctance to rotate. There was even a question over whether he would be included for the squad back in May. But his club form was impossible to ignore and the whole country are grateful he was brought along for the ride.
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Getty ImagesLOSER: Memphis Depay
Memphis Depay has often been an enigma, an extremely talented forward who made a precocious start to his career, only to flop at Manchester United. He rebuilt his reputation with Lyon and earned a dream move to Barcelona, where he also failed to live up to expectations.
He has been consistent for his national team, though, and has had a strong tournament, albeit while only finding the net once. But on the biggest night of his life, he lasted just 35 minutes before succumbing to injury.
As it turned out, his departure from the pitch and the introduction of Joey Veerman helped stabilise the Netherlands and slowed England’s explosive start. But the Oranje ultimately lost the semi-final, and their talisman was powerless to help them.
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Getty ImagesWINNER: Gareth Southgate
Was this Southgate’s revenge for all the mud that has been slung at him? Against the toughest team England had faced yet in Germany, they produced their best performance, dominating the Dutch for large parts of the game, particularly in the second half.
Southgate has been heavily criticised, not without reason, for his hesitation to make substitutes, but here his changes were spot-on. He brought on Luke Shaw surprisingly early for Kieran Trippier, but bided his time before taking off Kane and Phil Foden for Palmer and Watkins.
He learned from Roberto Martinez’s mistake with Cristiano Ronaldo and removed Kane for the far livelier Watkins, who struck the winner with the help of a pass from Palmer. Job done. And now England are off to their second consecutive Euros final, their first on foreign soil.
Berlin could well prove to be Southgate’s last act as England manager, but however the match ends, he must be remembered as the man who gave the country hope again. Some of that goodwill has been tested at this tournament, but England are exactly where they wanted to be. Time to give Southgate his flowers.
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Getty ImagesLOSER: VAR
Gary Neville could be forgiven for being biased towards England in normal circumstances, but even he was convinced they should not have been awarded a penalty in the first half. In fact, he saw its awarding as a very affront to defenders past and present, calling it an “absolutely disgraceful decision” and saying he found it “offensive”.
ITV‘s refereeing expert Christina Unkel was also taken aback by the decision to review the play on the VAR monitor, as she could not see how on-pitch referee Felix Zwayer had made a clear and obvious error by not awarding a spot-kick for Denzel Dumfries’ challenge on Kane.
The Netherlands had every right to be upset by the decision, which gave England a ticket straight back into the match as Kane converted after falling behind early on. It was not the first bizarre decision from VAR at the tournament, either, as Denmark were harshly punished for a questionable handball against Germany, who were then stunned themselves as they were denied a penalty in their quarter-final tie with Spain when the ball had struck Marc Cucurella’s arm.
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Getty ImagesWINNER: England’s Stockport stars
Phil Foden and Kobbie Mainoo grew up three miles apart from each other in Stockport, the satellite town on the edge of Manchester. During the tournament, the pair – along with Palmer, from neighbouring Wythenshawe – have been reminiscing about the teams they played for in their youth. But on Wednesday, those local boys became national heroes.
Foden finally gave the type of performance he had delivered week-in, week-out for Manchester City. He wreaked havoc on the Dutch in the first half, creating three huge moments. He was only denied a goal by the post, the fingers of Bart Verbruggen and Denzel Dumfries’ clearance off the line.
Mainoo, meanwhile, was fabulous from start to finish, playing with his usual fearlessness on the ball and making key interventions in defence before being withdrawn in added time. Foden had been taken off 10 minutes earlier for Palmer, who completed the three Manchester musketeers’ night to remember by setting up the winner.
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