Sport|Euro2020

England vs Denmark: Euro 2020 second semi-final

Updates from Wembley Stadium where England beat Denmark to seal a place in the final.

England players celebrate the goal by England's forward Harry Kane [AFP]
Published On 7 Jul 2021
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Updated: 
7 Jul 2021
10:21 PM (GMT)
  • England aiming to reach first Euro final
  • Denmark won the European Championship in 1992
  • Denmark lost opening two games
  • England concede for the first time in the tournament
  • Winners to face Italy in the final on Sunday

It’s a wrap

Thanks again for joining us for what turned out to be another fascinating game of football.

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Joy and heartbreak, as often is the case, witnessed on Wembley Stadium’s turf. England reach first major final since 1966. Denmark unable to repeat the heroics of 1992.

Our match bulletin is here. Read it, save it, print it if you’re an England fan.

We’ll catch up on Sunday for the big one… (the Euro 2020 final, not the Wimbledon men’s final or the Copa America final).

Stay safe, especially if you are at Wembley Stadium.

The man who scored the winner, Harry Kane [Reuters]

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Bring on Sunday

We’ll be staying on at Wembley for a few more days for the decider.

Two unbeaten teams in the final.

It will be England, playing at home, taking on Italy for the Euro 2020 trophy.

Just incase you failed to notice, final of the OTHER continental tournament (Copa America) will also be taking place on Sunday.

That will feature another hosts Brazil taking on Argentina.

Soaking it up

England players enjoying the presence of their fans inside the stadium. And by the looks of it, the fans are also happy to be back.

[Reuters]
[Reuters]

Denmark, you were great!

From losing Ericksen to cardiac arrest and losing their opening two games, Denmark made it to extra-time of the semi-finals, going out of the tournament to an own-goal and debatable penalty.

Nothing short of a brilliant, brilliant effort by them. And inspiring.

England reach Euro 2020 final!

That’s it. It’s all over. England in the final!

Their first major final appearance since 1966.

Denmark, what a run!

One minute left

Can Denmark find a goal? Can England hold on longer?

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Denmark are just not getting the ball. England becoming the new possession kings!

Final five

Denmark have a corner.

England survive. England holding on.

Eight minutes left

England can’t get out of their half. Denmark pressing for an equaliser to take this to penalties.

Sterling breaks…

Here we go

Final 15 minutes of open play.

Half-time in extra-time

England 15 minutes away from the final. Denmark 15 minutes away from going home.

Any more goals in store?

England 2 – 1 Denmark

 

⚽ GOAL!

Saved. But Kane puts it in on second attempt.

England 2-1 Denmark

England’s Harry Kane celebrates scoring their second goal [Reuters]

PENALTY to England!

VAR called in. It stands.

Kane on the ball…

Corner to England

England try to get the ball in the back of the net, Denmark with other ideas.

Sterling shoots over from the edge of the box. Denmark hold on.

One-way traffic.

Back underway

Thirty minutes to find a goal (or five). Otherwise we go to penalties…again.

England 1-1 Denmark

Extra-time it is

England 1-1 Denmark at the end of normal time and we’ll have another 30 minutes for these two sides to fight it out for a place in the Euro 2020 final.

Italy awaits.

⏱️ Final 60 seconds

Denmark pressing, England defending deep.

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Denmark have used five substitutes. England just one.

Six minutes of added time. Now it’s England’s turn to camp out in Denmark’s half.

Substitution

Denmark’s Christensen hobbles off, Andersen runs on.

And we’re also in the last 10 minutes of normal time.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking and what she’s thinking 👇

VAR check

Potential England penalty? Foul on Kane in the box?

No says the ref. Play on.

🟨 Yellow for Wass

Both sides have a goal each and now a yellow card each.

Substitutions

Denmark

On: Wass, Poulsen, Norgaard

Off: Stryger, Damsgaard, Dolberg

England

On: Grealish

Off: Saka

Time for a change?

England fans demanding a substitution. The 11 on the field haven’t been that bad, you know.

CLOSE

Mount crosses a free-kick in from the right. Maguire rises to the challenge but is denied by a stretching Schmeichel.

Another excellent save by the Denmark goal-keeper to keep his side in the game.

England 1-1 Denmark

Denmark’s Kasper Schmeichel saves from England’s Harry Maguire [Reuters]

🟨 Yellow for Maguire

First booking of the semi-final and it’s the England defender who goes in the books.

England’s Harry Maguire is shown a yellow card by referee Danny Makkelie [Reuters]

⏱️ 45 minutes remain

We’re back underway. Will this be settled in the next 45 minutes? Or extra-time? Or penalties?

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No changes for either side.

That question

I thought Kasper Schmeichel put an end to that the other day.

Stats

England lead with 60 percent possession. Both sides have had two shots on target and a corner each.

No yellow cards yet.

As with the score, not much separating them at the halfway mark.

England 1-1 Denmark

⏱️Half-time

All-square at the interval. Damsgaard scored a stunning free-kick to put Denmark ahead but a Kjaer own-goal, under-pressure from Sterling, brought England level.

England 1-1 Denmark

 

⚽ GOAL!

Sterling brings England back level! Or is it an own-goal?

It is an own-goal. Kjaer the culprit as he tried to clear Saka’s pass to Sterling.

England 1-1 Denmark

Denmark’s Simon Kjaer scores an own goal and the first for England [Reuters]

⚽ GOAL!

Shaw fouls outside the box. Free-kick to Denmark.

And Damsgaard scores!

England concede their first goal of Euro 2020… just as we mentioned Pickford’s achievements… (sorry)

England 0-1 Denmark

Denmark’s Mikkel Damsgaard scores their first goal [Reuters]

Pickford’s achievement

Denmark settling down

It was all England at the start. Denmark were wayward and seemed unprepared.

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But they have settled down since then. Have had a few shots, a corner, forced Pickford into a few mistakes and their supporters lots to shout about in the crowd.

Twenty minutes gone

England leading on the possession charts but no goals yet.

Both sides have had a shot on target… but nothing that would scare the goal-keepers.

672 minutes

That’s how long it has been since England conceded a goal.

Sterling on the rise

Raheem Sterling keeping Denmark’s defence honest in the first five minutes. He’s on the left, he’s in the middle.

No shots but plenty of runs and moves.

Ericksen shirt presentation

Just before kick-off, this happened:

Kick-off

Here we go. Denmark get us started from left to right.

Players on the pitch now

Five minutes to go. Enough talk, let’s get this underway.

Denmark players line up before the match [Reuters]

Your predictions have arrived

England staying, Denmark going home (no, not THAT tune).

That’s what our Twitter followers have predicted, at least. What would Paul the Octopus have predicted if he was alive?

‘Denmark here on merit’

Former Denmark and Manchester United goal-keeper Peter Schmeichel reminds everyone that Denmark have “been playing really good football, entertaining, scoring goals, winning points, conceding few goals”.

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“We are in the semi-final on merit. In Denmark now there are more people following football and watching this game than ever before. But I don’t think the team has got wings from that incident – they have been at this quality level for a while and I’m hopeful for tonight,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Have you voted for your winner?

There’s still time if you haven’t. Who do you think is winning tonight? Poll closes in 10 minutes 👇

⏱️ Countdown

Thirty minutes to kick-off and the seats are filling up inside Wembley Stadium. Players are warming up and the pundits are laying out their strategies on the screens.

Easy, right?

England fans display flags inside the stadium before the match [Reuters]
More England fans [Reuters]
And a whole lot of Denmark fans too [Reuters]

 

Rock, paper, scissors…

Advantage England

But only on head-to-head. These two sides have met 21 times with England winning 12 of those.

In a European Championship semi-final, though, these stats count for little.

Are you in for the long-run?

England to win in normal time? Denmark to clinch an extra-time thriller? Or will we see more penalties?

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I’m ready for penalties, with my goals and misses emojis shortcuts ready.

This might take two hours to be decided.

Playing-XIs

England make one change: Saka in, Sancho out.

England: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Phillips, Rice, Mount; Saka, Kane, Sterling.

Denmark name unchanged XI.

Denmark: Schmeichel; Christensen, Kjaer, Vestergaard; Larsen, Hojbjerg, Delaney, Maehle; Damsgaard, Dolberg, Braithwaite.

What’s in it for Denmark?

Well, an appearance in the final, something they haven’t managed since lifting the trophy in 1992.

Despite playing for more modest clubs scattered throughout Europe, the Danes are not intimidated by England’s star-studded lineup of household names.

“I feel like we have the qualities to play against everyone. As a team, I would not say they are that much better,” Denmark’s Andreas Christensen said.

Denmark fans are pictured in the streets of Copenhagen ahead of the semi-final [Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP]

Record beckons for Captain Kane

England’s captain Harry Kane needs one goal to equal Gary Lineker’s record.

Took him a while to get going at Euro 2020 but here he is.

England’s clean sheets

It’s remarkable that England have not conceded a single goal in the tournament so far – that’s five clean sheets.

They started off not scoring too many either – two goals in the three group matches. But scored six in the two knockouts, including a 2-0 win over Germany… much to the dismay of the ‘psychic’ elephant who predicted a German win!

Elephant Yashoda, an elephant oracle’ predicts Germany’s victory. Yashoda had correctly predicted all of Germany’s group phase matches [Leon Kuegeler/Reuters]

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Prediction time

With just under two hours left to kick-off, now is as good a time as any to get your predictions in.

Will it be England? Will it be Denmark?

Just the two options (it’s a knockout). Vote now 👇

Road to the semi-finals

England
Beat Croatia 1-0
Drew 0-0 with Scotland
Beat Czech Republic 1-0
Beat Germany 2-0
Beat Ukraine 4-0

Denmark
Lost 0-1 to Finland
Lost 1-2 to Belgium
Beat Russia 4-1
Beat Wales 4-0
Beat Czech Republic 2-1

‘Has football ever come home?’

England’s “Football’s coming home” anthem – roared by fans at Wembley after the Germany game – does not sit well with everyone.

Denmark keeper Kasper Schmeichel took a cheeky swipe at the supposedly triumphalist song, saying: “Has it ever been home? I don’t know, have you ever won it?”

Preview

Denmark will have to do what no team has done against England at the Euro 2020 to reach the tournament final: score a goal.

The Danes recovered from two losses in their opening games of the tournament and will take on England in the second semi-final at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday.

England, meanwhile, have not lost a match or conceded a goal so far at Euro 2020 and will be playing at their national football stadium.

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Read our preview of the Euro 2020 second semi-final.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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