Netherlands 3-1 England
So Holland will meet Portugal in the UEFA Nations League Final on Sunday.
They will face the European Champions bidding to win European football’s newest trophy and put a spring back in the step of their dedicated legions of fans.
For England, this was an all-too familiar feeling: defeat in extra-time in a semi-final.
Highlights of the game
This clash, between two nations undergoing something of a revival, was always destined to be close — and so it proved.
After a minute’s silence as the late UEFA president Lennart Johansson was fondly remembered, the contest soon burst into life.
Jadon Sancho, after such a fine season in the Bundesliga, dinked the ball across to Football Writers’ Player of the Year, Raheem Sterling, who nearly got a touch before Daley Blind hacked clear.
Soon afterwards, Memphis Depay called Jordan Pickford into action as the rain came down in Guimaraes.
Then came the key moment of the first half.
Half an hour had passed when acclaimed teenager centre-back Matthijs De Ligt took his eye off the ball and Marcus Rashford took advantage and nipped in before being brought down.
The Manchester United man dusted himself up and then coolly sent Jasper Cillessen the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Oranje were slightly rattled and Sancho nutmegged De Ligt before slipping through Rashford, who was denied by a superb challenge from Denzel Dumfries.
It was a tackle from which the unfortunate Rashford was unable to recover and he was replaced at the break by captain Harry Kane.
The second half started in attacking fashion, not least when Sancho could only head the ball straight at Cillessen from a Fabian Delph delivery.
Jordan Pickford was rarely tested by the opposition despite the Netherlands winning the possession battle.
The pressure slowly mounted and De Ligt was determined to make amends, rising above Kyle Walker to power an unstoppable header beyond Pickford from a 73rd minute corner.
Here was a UEFA Nations League news story to add to his many club deeds over the past nine months.
It was nearly even better for Ronald Koeman’s side as, five minutes later, Donny van de Beek – another Ajax man in demand – played a one-two with Dumfries and lashed the ball high from close range as he was leaning back.
End-to-end the action continued, and Barcelona bound Frenkie de De Jong blocked Kane just in the nick of time as he shaped to shoot.
England thought they had regained the lead seven minutes from time when Ben Chilwell and Sterling countered and Ross Barkley released substitute Jesse Lingard whose finish was cool, only for VAR to rule he had strayed a fraction offside.
The drama continued as Steven Bergwijn sent a shot off target after it was deflected into his path off Chilwell.
After VAR’s intervention on a number of occasions, seven minutes of stoppage time was called and Lingard went close with a threatening run and shot and then Depay should have done better after Bergwijn robbed the dawdling Harry Maguire.
Sterling then grazed the top off the crossbar as both sides tried in vin to snatch a winner in normal time.
Into extra-time and Kane, working his way back to fitness after two months out, was the saviour as he cleared a Vigil van Dijk header off the line.
It was an act he would repeat six minutes later as the pressure grew.
Even Kane could not do it all by himself and the striker could only watch from a distance as Depay robbed John Stones and his shot was parried by Pickford before Quincy Promes got to the loose ball which was heading wide before deflecting in off Kyle Walker.
Pickford also prevented Depay with a fine save as Holland finished with a flourish before Promes made sure, making no mistake after Depay dispossessed Barkley and drew out Pickford.
It will be Holland v Portugal in the inaugural Nations League Final.
Key statistics
Five of the last seven Holland goals have been set up by Depay.
De Ligt is the first Dutch player to concede a penalty and score a goal in a single game since Stefan de Vrij in 2014 (vs Spain).
This was the first time Holland have scored twice in extra-time 1907 against Belgium.
In the absence of Kane from the starting line-up, Sterling was given the captaincy to mark his 50th cap. Having scored just twice in 45 matches, he had notched six goals in the four games coming into this.
Sterling is the third youngest player to reach 50 caps for England (24years, 180days), behind only Wayne Rooney in 2009 (23years, 159days) and Michael Owen in 2003 (23years 179days).
Rashford has scored four goals in his last seven appearances for England – one more than he netted in his first 25 games for his country.
What’s next?
The quite-brilliant Cristiano Ronaldo awaits Holland in Sunday’s final in the Estadio do Dragao in Porto.
It’s Switzerland for England on the same day in the third-fourth place play-off, again in Guimaraes.
Make sure to check out the SBOBET UEFA Nations League betting odds.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
