England ends its 55-year wait for a knockout victory over Germany. Raheem Sterling and Hary Kane scored a goal each as England reached the quarter-finals of the ongoing Euro Cup after defeating Germany 2-0, reports Asian Lite Newsdesk
Riding on goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane, England defeated Germany 2-0 in a Round of 16 match at the European Football Championship — Euro 2020 — to advance to the quarter-finals here on Tuesday.
Sterling scored in the 75th minute, converting a a low cross from Luke Shaw. Kane and Jack Grealish played the ball out wide to Shaw, whose low cross went straight to Sterling who slotted the ball in.
England were not yet as eleven minutes later — in the 86th — Kane converted a cross from Grealish.
Shaw moved up from the midfield and charged forward. He played the ball wide to Grealish, whose low cross was headed home by Kane from the edge of the six-yard box
“We knew we needed to put in a big performance against a very good German side and I thought we done that today,” Sterling later told BBC.
“Scoring for your country is always special and it is definitely a special moment for me… I celebrated and for half a second I thought ‘Don’t let it be offside’. I am really happy it went in and I am really happy we got the win,” he added.
According to BBC report, the win was secured with another moment of significance four minutes from time when captain Harry Kane, who had once again struggled to influence the game, headed in from substitute Jack Grealish’s perfect delivery for his first goal of Euro 2020.
England were again thankful for the brilliance of Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who has yet to concede a goal in the tournament and saved crucially from Timo Werner and Kai Havertz in each half, while Thomas Muller missed a glorious chance to equalise before Kane struck.
England now face Ukraine in the quarter-finals in Rome on Saturday after they scored a last-minute winner in extra time to beat Sweden.
This was England’s first knockout win over Germany at Wembley since 1966.
England had only ever won one knockout tie in European Championship history, the quarterfinal shootout victory over Spain at Euro ’96.
There will still be questions about England coach Gareth Southgate’s team selection and persistence with Kane when he managed only a touch in the opposition penalty area in the first half. And it was a bad one, taking a ball too far past Manuel Neuer while trying to go around the goalkeeper.
Also, England captain and striker Kane has come in for some criticism during Euro 2020, failing to get onto the score sheet, or even playing a good game, in all three of England’s group games, and he touched the ball just twice in the opening 30 minutes, according to a report from the CNN.
Meanwhile, England and Germany players all took a knee as one amidst huge cheers and applause at the Wembley stadium, the Indian Express reported.
England have been consistently taking a knee before each match to help tackle racism. In contrast, Germany have not kneeled before their games but goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer had said that this was discussed in the dressing room before ahead of Tuesday’s knockout tie.