Saturday, July 3, 2021 at 10:48 PM• Dominic Mostert • Last update: 22:54

England is the last team to qualify for the semi-finals of the European Championship. The team of national coach Gareth Southgate had few problems with Ukraine on Saturday evening and was supreme in the second half: 0-4. Harry Kane was responsible for two goals, while Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson also scored. England hopes to qualify for the final via Denmark on Wednesday, which would be the best performance ever at a European Championship.

England’s Southgate surprised by putting Jadon Sancho in the starting line-up. The attacker, who switched from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United this week, had to make do with just seven minutes of play in the final round so far, but was surprisingly preferred over Bukayo Saka. The right winger, however, hardly appeared in the piece. England mainly attacked from the left flank and opened the score in the fourth minute. Raheem Sterling passed Mykola Shaparenko indoors and sent a through ball to Harry Kane, who only needed one touch in the penalty area to score.

Sterling prepared for Kane’s sixth goal for England. Never before in the 21st century has one player delivered so many assists for another player the Three Lions. After the opening goal, England played patiently. Ukraine did not report to the front until the final phase of the first half, but did not seriously test goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. England became threatening a few times in the first act. After 32 minutes, Declan Rice fired a falling ball into Georgi Bushchan’s fists; five minutes before half-time, Sancho had a chance, but he was offside.

In the second half, England completely took over the game. After just over a minute, Harry Maguire made it 0-2, towering over Mykola Matviyenko after a curling free kick from Luke Shaw and heading straight in. The 0-3 was also prepared by Shaw: the left back sent a sharp cross, after which the detached Kane headed through the legs of goalkeeper Bushchan. The same Bushchan prevented Kane from completing his hat trick in minute 62 with a powder from outside the penalty area, but a header from substitute Jordan Henderson from the ensuing corner made England 0-4. The midfielder scored his first goal in his 62nd international match; never before has a player had to wait so long for his first international goal for England. Sol Campbell (47 caps) was the previous ‘record holder’.

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