Rampant England Advance To Euro Last Four
04 July, 2021
England cruised into the semi-finals of the European Championship with a 4-0 thrashing of Ukraine at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday night.
New Manchester United signing Jadon Sancho was handed his first start of the tournament as Bukayo Saka dropped to the bench while Mason Mount replaced Kieran Trippier.
The Three Lions made the perfect start as top scorer Raheem Sterling turned provider to play in Harry Kane, who poked the ball beyond the on-rushing Georgi Bushchan after just four minutes.
Ukraine nearly hit back on 17 minutes when Roman Yaremchuk was slipped through on goal, but the attacker saw his strike palmed away by England shot-stopper Jordan Pickford.
Bushchan was called into action in the 32nd minute, with the Ukraine goalkeeper showing great reflexes to keep out Declan Rice's stinging effort through a sea of bodies.
After Andriy Shevchenko's side failed to find the equaliser in the first half, Gareth Southgate's men doubled their advantage minutes after the restart as Harry Maguire headed home Luke Shaw's free-kick.
England got their third goal on 50 minutes when Shaw turned provider once again, this time picking out Kane for the close-range header to complete his brace.
Jordan Henderson replaced Rice just before the hour mark and his impact was almost immediate as he bagged the fourth the goal in the 63rd minute with a neat header from Mount's cross to round off an emphatic win.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za