England manager Gareth Southgate said he was “delighted” with Ollie Watkins’ match-winner and called his side’s late win over the Netherlands to reach the Uefa Euro 2024 final “special”.
Watkins’ 90th-minute strike came nine minutes after the introduction of the Aston Villa striker and Cole Palmer, who set up his goal with a neat pass.
“The most important thing is that the whole team is ready to go into the game,” Southgate told ITV Sport after England reached their second successive Euro final in charge.
“We felt, sensibly, that we were starting to lose the pressure, and so did Harry [Kane] he took the knocker. Ollie can press well and get those runs in behind. We thought it was a good time to try it. I’m really happy for Ollie to get his time.”
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Watkins’ ‘special’ goal
England’s previous two knockout stage games in Germany required an extra 30 minutes in Southgate’s side’s difficult campaign, making Watkins’s genius interesting.
Xavi Simons opened the scoring with a stunning finish, denying Declan Rice’s goal before finishing past Jordan Pickford just outside the box seven minutes later.
IS OLLIE WATKINS WINNING ENGLAND?! 🏴
Aston Villa’s OLLIE WATKINS IS A SUPERSTAR SHOOTER! 🤩🎯#Euro2024 | #NEDENG pic.twitter.com/67Zpbwg6QQ
– ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 10, 2024
Kane won and scored a penalty after 11 minutes, sending a direct strike under Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen as the Three Lions restored parity.
“We played really well,” said Southgate, who replaced Kieran Trippier with a fit Luke Shaw at half-time in Dortmund.
Gareth felt that way 😤#NEDENG pic.twitter.com/ItwV7TzHSh
– ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 10, 2024
“It was a tough game and we had to keep changing the way we defended, especially. We had to practice all the time and the players made a lot of good decisions. The final is special for the team and rewards what they do for the team.”
Euro 2024 final: England vs Spain
England are now a game away from winning the title for the first time, although they face an uphill task against a Spain side who are on pace to win six times and are fueled by impressive talents such as wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams.
They will meet the triple champions, who defeated France 2-1 in the first semi-final, at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Sunday (20:00 BST).
England will be significant underdogs but, even if they cannot cause an upset, Southgate has again led a campaign to measure the kind of success his country could only dream of when he was appointed in November 2016.
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