Wembley beckons for Gareth Southgate’s side after a devastating spell at the start of the second half in Rome earned England their most emphatic win at a EURO, and ended Ukraine’s hopes of reaching the UEFA EURO 2020 semi-finals.
Ukraine vs England: as it happened, reaction
Match in brief
Having brought in Jadon Sancho and Mason Mount, England set out to dominate possession, and were in front inside five minutes, the ever-slippery Raheem Sterling cutting inside from the left to slide the ball through to Harry Kane, who eluded his marker and stretched out a leg to beat Georgiy Bushchan.
The Three Lions looked to patiently pick off Ukraine thereafter; Kane headed over from a Luke Shaw cross, and Declan Rice thumped a powerful shot at Bushchan from distance. An injury to defender Serhiy Kryvtsov forced Ukraine to switch to a more aggressive formation on 35 minutes, but any extra threat evaporated after a devastating spell of England play after the interval.
Shaw’s free-kick teed up Harry Maguire to head in a second just after the restart, and Ukraine had no time to regain their composure before Kane made it 3-0, Shaw’s sweet ball in from the left inviting the No9 to head down through Bushchan’s legs and into the net. Bushchan produced a terrific save to deny a Kane volley just after the hour-mark, but the goalkeeper’s suffering continued as on-coming substitute Jordan Henderson connected with a Mason Mount corner to make it 4-0: his first England goal in 62 appearances.
Ukraine could not respond, and a run of tactical substitutions towards the end of the game allowed Southgate to give some key players a chance to rest their legs ahead of Wednesday’s semi-final against Denmark.
Star of the Match: Harry Kane (England)
“Kane was taken off once the result was certain; he scored twice and was consistent with all of his efforts, including an amazing second-half shot which was well saved by the goalkeeper. He is gaining in confidence, and taking the whole England squad with him.”
Jean-François Domergue, UEFA Technical Observer
Check out every Heineken Star of the Match at UEFA EURO 2020.
Bogdan Buga, Ukraine reporter
Of course, it would have been nicer to go out on a less dispiriting result, but Ukraine still bow out with good reason to be proud of how far they have come. They were second best tonight, but all of them played with heart, and there is no denying their desire, 100% commitment and courage. Andriy Shevchenko’s players have won plaudits not only from their supporters but also many neutral football fans.
Simon Hart, England reporter
First, a win against Germany, and now this: England’s biggest victory at any EURO. Solid in the group stage, Southgate’s men are developing an irresistible momentum. With five clean sheets at one end and now Kane’s mojo recovered at the other, they will return to Wembley rightly full of belief. Sancho, on his first EURO start, and Shaw, whose left foot set up two of the goals, highlighted their importance but this was a collective effort, and another night for England fans to remember.
Reaction
Harry Kane, England forward: “It’s about peaking at the right time. A fantastic night; we keep going game after game. We were favourites to win this game, a lot of pressure and expectation and to perform as we did was top-drawer. Another clean sheet and four goals: it was a perfect night for us.”
Harry Maguire, England defender: “It’s 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 but we don’t stop here. We’ve got another big game coming up and we want to go further this time.”
Key stats
- This was England’s most emphatic win at a EURO: their previous biggest wins were 4-1 vs the Netherlands at EURO ’96 and 3-0 vs Switzerland at EURO 2004.
- This is the first time England have scored four goals in a knockout stage match of a major tournament since the 4-2 win against West Germany in the final of the 1966 FIFA World Cup.
- England have yet to concede a goal at EURO 2020. The only previous time they started a major international final tournament with four successive clean sheets was at the 1966 World Cup.
- Harry Kane’s last 24 goals for England have all been in competitive matches.
- Kane is the first player to score twice for England in a EURO knockout match, and first England player to score twice in a EURO final tournament match since Wayne Rooney, against Croatia in 2004
- England have scored within the opening five minutes in four of their last six EURO final tournament knockout phase matches.
- Maguire scored his fourth goal for England and his second in a major tournament after his effort against Sweden at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
- Jordan Henderson’s first England came on his 62nd appearance for his country.
- Ukraine have only failed to score in one of their last 12 international matches; they are yet to keep a clean sheet in 11 EURO final tournament matches.
- This was England’s fourth EURO final tournament quarter-final tie. Each of the previous three finished level and required a penalty shoot-out to decide the outcome (1996 W vs Spain, 2004 L vs Portugal, 2012 L vs Italy).
- Excluding penalty shoot-outs, England have lost only one of their last 16 EURO final tournament matches (W9 D6 L1); they have won ten and drawn one of their last 11 international matches.
Line-ups
Ukraine: Buschan; Zabarnyi, Kryvstov (Tsygankov 35), Matvieyenko; Karavaev, Sydorchuk (Makarenko 64), Shaparenko, Zinchenko, Mykolenko; Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk
England: Pickford; Walker, Maguire, Stones, Shaw (Trippier 65); Rice (Henderson 57), Phillips (Bellingham 65), Mount; Sancho, Kane (Calvert-Lewin 73), Sterling (Rashford 65)
Next up
England – vs Denmark in London, 7 July
