Euro 2020: Kane stars as England set up Denmark semi-final

England thrashed Ukraine 4-0 to set up a Euro 2020 semi-final against in-form Denmark thanks to double strike from Harry Kane in Rome on Saturday.

Kane ended a worrying international scoring drought by
netting in the 2-0 last-16 defeat of Germany in midweek and he put England
ahead inside four minutes on a sweaty evening in the Italian capital.

Gareth Southgate’s side then put this quarter-final tie out
of sight with two more goals early in the second half, one from Harry Maguire
before Kane netted again.

Substitute Jordan Henderson got the fourth, and as Denmark
lie in wait in the Wembley semi-final on Tuesday England will be confident of
going on to reach a first ever European Championship final and even now
claiming a first major international title since 1966.

The draw here was kind for them, with Ukraine surely as weak
an opponent as they could hope to face in a quarter-final, a stage at which
they have lost to the likes of Italy and Portugal in recent European
Championships.

However the statistics are impressive, with England having
come through five games at this tournament all without conceding a goal.

Some of their play in wide areas was outstanding, with
Raheem Sterling and Jadon Sancho –- making his first start at the Euro –- too
hot for Ukraine to handle.

Kane, their captain, had gone close to eight hours without
finding the net for his country but his opener here was his second in just
eight minutes following the late strike that secured victory over Germany.

Regardless of the opposition, their display at the Stadio
Olimpico was a step-up in class in the final third to previous games at the
Euro and they will be favourites at home against a Danish side who played their
own quarter-final against the Czech Republic on Saturday in distant Baku.

Hat-trick of headers

This will be the only match England play away from home in
the competition and it marked quite a difference to their defeat of the
Germans, which was watched by more than 40,000 supporters at Wembley, where
coronavirus restrictions were eased.

With Italy currently imposing a five-day quarantine on all
arrivals from the United Kingdom, the number of England fans in Rome was
limited to those already based in the European Union although they still made
themselves heard in the crowd of under 12,000.

They had plenty to celebrate, unlike their Ukrainian
counterparts, as Andriy Shevchenko’s team came up short in their bid to take
the country to a first ever major tournament semi-final.

They scraped out of their group and then edged 10-man Sweden
in extra time in the last 16, and their chances of shocking England looked dead
and buried when they fell behind early on.

Sterling, who terrorised the Ukraine defence down the left,
played in Kane who poked the ball past Georgiy Bushchan.

Ukraine’s giant striker Roman Yaremchuk forced a save from
Jordan Pickford and a Declan Rice piledriver was kept out by Bushchan, with
England looking comfortable.

However Ukraine were a different proposition after injured
defender Serhiy Kryvtsov was replaced by Dynamo Kiev winger Viktor Tsygankov in
the 36th minute.

They finished the first half strongly and more pessimistic
England fans may have spent the interval reliving their exit from Euro 2016,
when they lost to Iceland in the last 16 despite also having opened the scoring
in the fourth minute.

They need not have worried.

England scored again less than a minute after the restart
when a foul on Kane allowed Luke Shaw to deliver a free-kick from the left for
Maguire to head in.

Four minutes after that Sterling supplied the overlapping
Shaw and he crossed for a rejuvenated Kane to head home.

The Tottenham star nearly had his hat-trick, a stinging
volley producing a fine save from Bushchan.

From Mason Mount’s resulting corner came the fourth goal,
another header, this time from Henderson, the first of five substitutes sent on
by Southgate who would have been thinking about the semi-final long before this
quarter-final was officially over.

Article source: https://www.samaa.tv/news/2021/07/kane-stars-as-england-book-euro-2020-semi-final-berth/