England and Netherlands get a shot at redemption
England has a rst ever major tournament nal on foreign soil in its sights in Wednesday’s Euro 2024 seminal when it faces a Netherlands side hitting its stride.
The Three Lions are aiming to match their run to the Euro 2020 nal, when they lost in heartbreaking fashion on penalties to Italy at Wembley. England’s only ever major tournament triumph also came on home soil at the 1966 World Cup.
Gareth Southgate’s men are out to end 58 years of hurt and have shown remarkable resilience, if not the quality expected of one of the pre-tournament favourites, in Germany.
Individual moments of brilliance from Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka has kept England alive with late equalisers before beating Slovakia in extra-time and Switzerland on penalties.
Those were ickers of the individual talent at Southgate’s disposal and the England boss has deantly defended his record, even though his side had failed to hit top gear at the tournament so far. Southgate is expected to stick by 3-4-2-1 system with Marc Guehi returning from suspension to replace Ezri Konsa.
Coming up against a raft of Premier League stars will hold little fear for the Netherlands, which boasts its own impressive crop of talent plying its trade in England’s top ight.
Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo has arguably been the form attacker at the tournament. The Dutch have had to wait 36 years since their own sole major tournament triumph, the last time the Euros were held in Germany.
But they will fancy their chances of being in Berlin on Sunday unless England suddenly clicks into gear.