England 2 vs 1 Holland
By Gerald Lutchman
POOR refereeing and VAR gave England the advantage over Holland in the semi-final clash. This will be England’s first ever tournament final outside of England and they were very lucky to get the 18th minute penalty that Harry Kane scored. It was a brutally hard decision to give that penalty. From day one I had said that I hoped the referees do not decide this tournament and if England win they need to thank this referee.
Ollie Watkins scored a wonder goal in the 90th minute to give England the winner and break the Dutch hearts. Watkins and Cole Palmer came on in the 81st minute to replace the ineffective Harry Kane and Phil
Foden. This combination secured the victory for England.
Xavi Simmons gave Holland the perfect start with a 7th minute goal. It seemed that Holland would have an easy road and a big victory. As in the other semifinal, the team that scored first went out of the competition.
Spain 2 vs 1 France
Lamine Yamal scored a wonder goal in the 21st minute to equalise against France and in the process became the youngest person to score in European Championship history. Four minutes later Spain were ahead when Dani Olmo shot was turned home by French defender Jules Konde.
It was not always the Spanish game as France took the lead in the 8th minute when Kolo Muani headed in the goal. It seemed that France had found the touch and were in a great mood to win. Spain have been playing like champions from game one and they showed their power by roaring to a victory.
Spain are deserving finalist having scored 13 goals and winning all their games. Spain start favourite against England on Sunday at the Olympiastadion Berlin from 3 pm AST in the Euro 2024 finals.
France have been below their best this tournament and it was summed up by Kylian Mbappe’s miss late in the second half when the team needed him the most. It was a very disappointing tournament for the player. He had only one goal and one assist in all of five games.
So far the leading scoreers are Cody Gaskpo of Holland, Georges Mikautazde of Georgia, Jamal Musiala, Dani Olmo and Ivan Schranz on three goals each.
