Wembley: Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane scored a goal each in the last 15 minutes as England eliminated Germany on Tuesday to sail into Euro 2020 quarterfinals at the Wembley. Gareth Southgate’s men will face Ukraine, who defeated Sweden 2-1 in the other pre-quarterfinal on the day.
The 2014 World Champions Germany came into the game following their Group F runners-up finish. They have been struggling from group stages to register an impact on the opposition and Tuesday was no different. Joachim Low’s side lacked coherence from the start that enabled England take great advantage on the game.
The first half was rather uneventful for both the sides except Jordan Pickford, who brilliantly denied Kai Havertz while Mats Hummels made a goal line tackle to stop Harry Kane. Sterling finally broke the deadlock in the 75th minute after he tapped in a Luke Shaw assist following some brilliant footwork from fan favorite Jack Grealish who came in at 70 minutes.
Grealish was in action again providing Kane with the ball which the Manchester City linked forward headed home at the 86th minute ending all the hopes of a Germany qualification. There have been several criticisms on Southgate leaving the likes of Grealish, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho on bench aroused but his boys delivered shutting all critics.
With Germany’s departure all the teams from the much spoken “Group of Death” have left truly justifying the uncertainty of this game. The departure was quite hard for the German boss as this was his last day coaching the team before Hansi Flick takes up.
In another match, an unfancied Andriy Shevchenko’s Ukraine beat Sweden, thanks to a Artem Dovbyk’s extra-time winner. Oleksandr Zinchenko opened the scoring for Ukraine after smashing a half volley past Robin Olsen on 27 minutes.
Sweden equalised right before the break when Emil Forsberg shot straight two minutes from half time whistle. Sweden succumbed to a man down when Marcus Danielson was sent off following a foul on Artem Besedin. At the final stroke of the extra time Zinchenko whipped a cross, which Dovbyk shot straight in the net taking Ukraine to quarterfinals.
