England advance to the final and dream of their first major title in 58 years

England, runners-up in the last European Championship, will have the opportunity to put that disappointment behind them after defeating the Netherlands 2-1 in their semi-final in Dortmund on Wednesday, making them Spain's opponents in Sunday's final in Berlin.

An Ollie Watkins goal (90+1) clinched the thrilling match in stoppage time, after Xavi Simons had put the Dutch ahead in the 7th minute and Harry Kane equalized for England with a penalty in the 18th minute.

"It's unbelievable!I've been waiting that moment for weeks. It's taken a lot of hard work to get where I am," Watkins celebrated after the match.

Three years on

Will England finally be crowned at a major competition, 58 years after the World Cup won on home soil in 1966? 

In 2021 they came close to breaking the curse, reaching the Euro final also with Gareth Southgate at the helm, however, Italy thwarted their mission in a penalty shootout in a final played at their London temple of Wembley.

"They've been the best team. We're starting to show a better version of ourselves," Southgate said. "The extra day [of rest] is a concern, in the last few tournaments that's been a problem for finalists. We've got to do the very best we can to recover the players as well as we can."

The English qualified by being faithful to their journey in this tournament, with suffering and holding on to the wire with the talent of a tightrope walker, but at least without having to decide in extra time as in the round of 16 against Slovakia or on penalties as in the quarterfinals against Switzerland.

The Netherlands, winners of the 1988 European Championship with current coach Ronald Koeman as a player, will have to keep waiting to lift the continental trophy again.

Since their only title 36 years ago, the Dutch have reached the semifinals four times (1992, 2000, 2004 and now 2024) but have failed to reach the coveted final match.

Kane to the rescue

The game started with a high tempo and in the seventh minute the Dutch took the lead when Xavi Simons robbed a ball off Declan Rice and took off like an arrow toward goal. His shot from the edge of the box ended up in the back of the English goal.

That first poke hurt the Three Lions, who were nonetheless able to react in anger soon after.

Kane sent high on a shot in the box in which Denzel Dumfries committed a penalty by going against his foot, as determined by the referee after reviewing the play at length on VAR.

Kane was on hand to convert the penalty in the 18th, with a tight shot at the base of the post that made Bart Verbruggen's save useless.

In the remainder of the first half, England looked the more dangerous contender. First when an attempt by Phil Foden was saved on the line by Dumfries (22) and then with a shot by Foden himself (32), from outside the box, straight at the post.

In between, Dumfries had hit the crossbar with a header from a corner (29).

Substitute hero

In the second half, the two teams lowered the intensity and the back-and-forth was not as frequent.

The Netherlands tried repeatedly, but Jordan Pickford was alert to both Virgil Van Dijk's shot (64th) and Simons' half-volley (76th).

England thought they had broken the deadlock in the 79th minute when Bukayo Saka scored, but the goal was disallowed for offside moments later.

In the final stretch, while everything seemed to point to extra time, the English looked for the goal with more intent.

Cole Palmer first threatened with a high shot in the 88th minute and then provided the assist for Ollie Watkins, who had come on in place of Kane ten minutes earlier, to fire across the face of the goal just beyond the reach of the Dutch goalkeeper and into the side netting, taking England to their second final in a row.