Three years on from losing the European Championship final on penalties, England have beaten Switzerland in a shoot-out to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2024.
Trent Alexander-Arnold scored the winning kick as England converted all of their penalties to win the shootout 5-3 after a 1-1 draw.
“The team showed a lot of character, belief, heart and spirit out there,” Alexander-Arnold told the BBC.
Another who scored was Bukayo Saka, who missed the last penalty kick of the shoot-out in the final in 2021 and was racially abused on social media.
Having lost six of their first seven penalty shoot-outs England have won two of the last three, both under Southgate who made improving their record a key plank of his management having experienced being the player who missed the decisive kick in the Euro 96 semi-final.
Saka had earlier equalised to take the game to extra-time after the Swiss took the lead.
The other shoot-out scorers were Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham and Ivan Toney, who returned in January from an eight-month ban for breaching betting rules.
England led the shoot-out after two penalties, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford having saved from Manuel Akanji, who took Switzerland’s first.
England now play Turkey or the Netherlands in Dortmund on Wednesday for a spot in the final.
Switzerland, who have never reached the last four in a major tournament, exit the European Championship on penalties in the quarter-finals for the second time running after defeat to Spain three years ago.
The quarter-final went to extra time after Saka scored with a shot off the post in the 80th minute to cancel out Breel Embolo’s goal five minutes earlier for Switzerland.
England had been the better side in regulation, delivering their best performance of the tournament without often threatening Yann Sommer’s goal.
The Swiss had the better chances to win in extra time, including substitute Xherdan Shaqiri hitting the frame of the goal direct from a corner. Pickford then saved from substitute Zeki Amdouni in the 119th to keep England in the game.
In charge of his 100th game on Saturday, the much-criticised Southgate has now taken England to at least the semi-finals in three of the four major tournaments in his eight-year tenure.
In the last of the quarter-finals, the Netherlands came from behind to beat Turkey 2-1 on Saturday and book its place in the European Championship semi-finals.
An own goal from Mert Muldur in the 76th minute, only six after Stefan De Vrij canceled Samet Akaydin’s first-half header for Turkey, was enough for the Dutch.
“It was really a battle today,” De Vrij said. “The Turkish team they have a big heart, a lot of quality. In the end we did well and we deserved the win.”
He said the Netherlands was able to put more pressure on Turkey after 1.97-metre-tall striker Wout Weghorst came on at the start of the second half.
“He’s always fighting up front, helping the team. And we started to keep the ball, create chances,” De Vrij said.
“Then we scored two goals and the whole team fought until the end.”
The Netherlands will face England in the second semi-final in Dortmund on Wednesday. Spain faces France in the first on Tuesday.
Turkey was without defender Merih Demiral, who was suspended for two matches by UEFA for making a nationalistic hand gesture after scoring in Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Austria. The gesture is used by Turkish nationalists and associated with an ultra-nationalist group.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was at the game after he changed his plans because of the diplomatic row with Germany over Demiral’s gesture.
German interior minister Nancy Faeser had said Demiral used his celebration “as a platform for racism” and federal minister Cem Özdemir, a German politician of Turkish descent, said the gesture “stands for terror, fascism.”
Many Turkish fans made the gesture on their way to Berlin’s Olympiastadion, and again during Turkey’s national anthem before the game.
The Dutch made a better start, but Turkey’s defenders dug in to limit the impact of Cody Gapko, Xavi Simons and Memphis Depay.
Akaydin rewarded a period of Turkish pressure by scoring in the 35th. Arda Guler delivered a butter-soft cross for the defender to head in off the underside of the crossbar.
The Dutch pushed for an equaliser and coach Ronald Koeman, who won Euro ’88 as a player with the Netherlands, reacted at the break by sending on big forward Wout Weghorst for Steven Bergwijn.
Weghorst’s presence gave the Dutch wingers a target, leading to a period of intense pressure.
Guler hit the post with a free kick, but it was an isolated effort as Dutch pressure continued.
It finally paid off in the 70th when De Vrij was left free to head in Depay’s cross.
Suddenly the Dutch supporters could be heard again, and they were cheering again six minutes later when Gapko forced the own goal from Muldur by getting in front of the defender to Denzel Dumfries’ low cross.
Newshttps://www.theroar.com.au/2024/07/07/character-belief-heart-and-spirit-england-into-euro-semis-after-shootout-drama-as-dutch-put-turkey-to-the-sword/‘Character, belief, heart and spirit’: England into Euro semis after shootout drama as Dutch put Turkey to the sword
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