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England on fire in 4-0 Euros quarter-final win over Ukraine


England have broken off the shackles to thump Ukraine 4-0 in their Euro 2020 quarter-final clash in Rome.

Harry Kane scored within four minutes of kick-off, before England added three more in the second half, through Harry Maguire, Kane again and Jordan Henderson.

Gareth Southgate’s side, who are yet to concede a goal in this tournament, will return to Wembley to face Denmark in the semi-finals, after the Danes beat Czech Republic 2-1 in the earlier game on Sunday.

Kane latched onto a superb Raheem Sterling through ball to put England ahead early, but Ukraine recovered well from the blow to come back into the game in the first half.

They threatened down the left wing especially, while England’s wide men, Sterling and Jadon Sancho were also excellent going forward.

Just when it looked like England were set for a tense second half, though, they scored early again in the second term thanks to a Harry Maguire header.

From that point Ukraine were far less competitive, and Kane was able to add a second goal with a close-range header. Both goals were set up with excellent crosses from Luke Shaw.

England added a fourth when Jordan Henderson headed in his first international goal from a corner.

Southgate’s men will likely face a sterner test in the semi-final against Denmark, who have responded remarkably well after their talisman Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch in their opening game. 

See how the match unfolded in our live blog.

Live updates

By Simon Smale

Semi finals are set

AP

Ok, we’re going to wrap things up here for our live coverage, although there will be plenty of coverage to come over the course of the day, so check back later after you’ve had a coffee of ten.

The semi finals are now set.

Spain vs Italy (Wed, 5:00am) and England vs Denmark (Thurs, 5:00am)

We’ll have live blog coverage of both matches on the ABC, so make sure you check back on Wednesday and Thursday for those.

Is it coming home? England believes, and after that performance, who can begrudge them that hope?

Form me Simon Smale and him, Dan Colasimone, thanks and enjoy your day.

AP

By Simon Smale

‘This group are not settling for a semi-final’ Maguire

AP

The other of England’s goalscoring Harry’s Macguire has also been speaking after the match to the BBC.

“It is a great feeling. Back-to-back semi-finals at a major tournament is a great achievement.

“I don’t want to be a party pooper. We have another big game coming up. We want to go further this time than at the World Cup.

“It is a great feeling that we are here and the way we have done it shows the progress we are making.

“Long may the improvement continue.”

Maguire said England were not getting ahead of themselves, but 

“We have great belief in the dressing room. It was an impressive performance. We now have to rest and recover.

“It is hard to soak it up when you have another big coming and you know who you are playing and when.

“The dressing room will be a great atmosphere tonight and then we will wake up tomorrow and be focused again.

“This group are not settling for a semi-final, we want to go further.”

By Simon Smale

Tougher challenges await

Very good but the Danes will be much better.

-Jem Allaway

I think you’re right Jem, the Danes are riding a wave of overwhelming support after the near-tragic events of their opening match, and will have an awful lot of the neutrals cheering for them at Wembley on Thursday morning (if there are many neutrals in the 60,000 fans expected).

There is no doubt that this is the easier side of the draw, although all teams have got there on merit.

But yes, Denmark are going to be a tougher test.

By Simon Smale

Harry Kane is the star of the match

AP

England skipper Harry Kane is the star of the match, here’s what he had to say.

“A great performance, great night,” Kane said after his two-goal performance.

“To perform like we did, another clean sheet … it’s a great day for English football.”

Kane was asked about his, and England’s, slow-ish start to the tournament, and he said he’s now hit form at the right time.

“It’s all about peaking for the right times, peaking for the knockout stages,” Kane said.

“I feel good.

“It’s nice to score a couple of goals, but the most important thing is winning games.”

So, the big question, is it coming home?

“We’re on the right track. We can’t get carried away.”

“We’ve done everything we needed to do so far.”

They sure have.

By Simon Smale

England’s clean sheets

It’s five clean sheets in a row at the European Championships, but add a couple of friendly wins to nil prior to the tournament, and England has just set a national record for consecutive clean sheets.

By Simon Smale

Ukraine bow out after a good tournament

AP

Lets congratulate Ukraine on their tournament as they perform a Viking clap for their fans in the corner for the Stadio Olimpico (for some reason).

They really challenged a decent Dutch team in Amsterdam in their opening game, had to dig so deep against Sweden in extra time last time out.

This all from a team ranked 24th in the world, one of the lowest ranked teams at this Euro 2020 tournament.

They had their moments in this game too, particularly the 10 minutes or so before half time, when they asked plenty of questions of England after an enforced change adjusted their shape, which appeared to suit them better than playing three at the back.

Andriy Shevchenko can hold his head up high for the work he’s done.

AP

Audience comment by Natty

By Simon Smale

Key Event

Full time! Ukraine 0-4 England!

AP

Not one second of added time allowed by the officials as England books their trip back home to Wembley, where they’ll meet Denmark in the semi-final.

An emphatic victory for England over a limited Ukraine team who simply did not have any answer to England’s skill and pace and power going forward. Absolutely zero hangover for England after the joy of victory over Germany, no travelling woes either in their first match away from Wembley for the tournament.

England are still yet to concede at Euro 2020 after 450 minutes of European Championship football. That’s impressive however you look at it, and whoever the opposition have been.

By Simon Smale

By Simon Smale

85′ – England defensive confidence

Oh that’s nice. Ukraine came forward and threatened again on the edge of the penalty area but England calmly win the ball back and then pass the ball away from danger with a mix of flicks and one-touch balls and nice movement from Henderson, Sancho and Mount.

“Ole!” scream the England fans in the stands. It’s a bit like that at the moment.

Even when Ukraine win the ball back, a cheeky backheel on the byline from Walker, I think, gets England out of danger.

The confidence is oozing out of England at the moment.

By Simon Smale

82′ – Chance England

Marcus Rashford is interested in a long ball over the top that gets in behind the Ukraine defence, but he’s always second favourite to get there and the ball goes behind for a goal kick,

England still come forward though from the goal kick, as Sancho speeds around the outside of the Ukraine leftback, but he is ruled to have fouled the defender as he passes him and it’s a free kick. 

By Simon Smale

79′ – Chance Ukraine

Suddenly, Ukraine are finding some gaps in and around the edge of England’s penalty area.

Yarmolenko gets a chance on the edge of the penalty area that’s blocked behind for a corner, but England just switching off a little here.

By Daniel Colasimone

By Simon Smale

74′ – Chance Ukraine!

Wow, a fizzing shot from Yevhen Makarenko, forcing Pickford into parrying as opposed to catching the ball.

It was travelling at some velocity, that shot, and definitely needed saving to preserve what would be a fifth clean sheet in a row at this tournament.

By Simon Smale

73′ – Substitution England

Harry Kane is coming off, so no hattrick for him. He now has nine goals for England at major tournaments, level with Alan Shearer but just one behind Gary Lineker.

He’s replaced by Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

That all happened in a stoppage after Roman Yaremchuk left a boot in on an England player, surely through frustration more than anything. He got a talking to but no card.

By Daniel Colasimone

By Simon Smale

70′ – NEAR-HOWLER ALERT!

Oh boy, Jordan Pickford came racing out of his goal to clear a long, hopeful ball forward, but sliced the ball horribly off his boot and, had the ball gone anywhere else, he could have conceded there.

Fortunately for him, Ukraine, whose heads are so far down I’m surprised they even saw the slice happen, could not capitalise. 

By Daniel Colasimone

Kane stays on

(AP)

It’s noticeable that among all those England substitutions, Harry Kane stayed on the pitch. There’s no need for him to be there anymore, of course, but he is on a hat-trick. And is he making a late surge at the Golden Boot? He’s got three goals in two games, with one or two games to go. 

Blimey, the way Ukraine are playing he could pass Ronaldo and Schtick’s five goals tonight.

By Simon Smale

Is this really England? I’ve never been this relaxed watching them play 😀

-Sally Rolph

Do not adjust your television sets…

Admittedly, Ukraine have looked quite limited, particularly in the second half, but this has been ruthless from England, and again you have to credit Southgate’s tactics.

By Daniel Colasimone



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