Sometimes, your luck is just in, you catch a break when you most need it and, after so much major tournament semi-final heartache, England finally got something to go their way and, in the process, one of these suffocatingly high-tension encounters to follow suit.
The 90 minutes had been nerve-shredding, England forced to find a response to Mikkel Damsgaard’s stunning 25 yard free-kick on the half-hour, which they did when Bukayo Saka’s cross, intended for Raheem Sterling, was bundled over Denmark’s goal-line by their captain, Simon Kjær.
With the battle lines drawn, England pushed in the second half of regulation time, but could not create too much of clear-cut note. Denmark’s resistance was stout. But on into extra time, it finally happened – England had the chance to win only their second semi-final in six attempts and advance into a first final since the 1966 World Cup.
Inevitably, it was Sterling who sparked it, having worried Denmark with his pace from the first whistle. He sliced into the area and went to ground under a challenge from Joakim Mæhle. The contact appeared minimal – to say the least – but the Dutch referee, Danny Makkelie, felt it was sufficient to award the penalty and VAR agreed. To compound the uneasiness, there was a second ball on the pitch at the time, although it did not appear to have affected play.
So there was Harry Kane, standing over the kick and, as everybody knows, he hardly ever misses. The England captain has a reputation for ice-cool efficiency for good reason. And yet he did miss this one, his side-footed shot read too easily by Kasper Schmeichel, who got his hand down to it.
But the Denmark goalkeeper, who had earlier made saves to deny Sterling and Harry Maguire, did not get the ball away. He merely got it out and, eyes lighting up in relief, Kane gobbled up the rebound, lashing into the empty net.
Source: Guardian