England makes history by thrashing Ukraine at Euro 2020

Harry Kane was once again the hero as England football fans rejoiced at a magical performance that keeps hopes of a miracle alive.

Harry Kane scored twice as a buoyant England cruised through to the semi-finals of Euro 2020 with a one-sided 4-0 win over Ukraine in Rome on Sunday morning (AEST).

Kane ended a worrying international scoring drought by netting in the 2-0 last-16 defeat of Germany and he put England ahead inside four minutes on a sweaty evening in the Italian capital.

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Gareth Southgate’s side then put this quarter-final tie out of sight with two more goals early in the second half, one from Harry Maguire before Kane netted again.

Substitute Jordan Henderson got the fourth, and as Denmark lie in wait in the Wembley semi-final on Wednesday England will be confident of going on to reach a first ever European Championship final and then claiming a first major international title since 1966.

England fans were chuffed with what they witnessed in Rome. Former TV host Piers Morgan tweeted: “This is one of the most dominant performances I have ever seen from an England team. Just superb.”

BBC presenter Dan Walker wrote: “What is going on? Not used to England playing so well in a major tournament. This is MADNESS. Lovely madness.”

Ex-England star turned pundit Gary Lineker wrote: “What is going on? It’s like watching Brazil ... alright, I’m overdoing it.”

The draw here was kind for England, with Ukraine surely as weak an opponent as they could hope to face in a quarter-final, a stage at which they have lost to the likes of Italy and Portugal in recent European Championships.

However the statistics are impressive, with England having come through five games at this tournament all without conceding a goal. It’s the first time in history a team has kept clean sheets in their first five matches at the European Championships.

Some of their play in wide areas was outstanding, with Raheem Sterling and Jadon Sancho — making his first start at the Euro — too hot for Ukraine to handle.

Kane, England’s captain, had gone close to eight hours without finding the net for his country but his opener here was his second in just eight minutes following the late strike that secured victory over Germany.

Regardless of the opposition, their display at the Stadio Olimpico was a step-up in class in the final third to previous games at the Euro and they will be favourites at home against a Danish side who played their own quarter-final against the Czech Republic in Baku.

Harry Kane has rediscovered his golden boot.

This will be the only match England play away from home in the competition and it marked quite a difference to their defeat of the Germans, which was watched by more than 40,000 supporters at Wembley, where coronavirus restrictions were eased.

With Italy currently imposing a five-day quarantine on all arrivals from the United Kingdom, the number of England fans in Rome was limited to those already based in the European Union although they still made themselves heard in the crowd of under 12,000.

They had plenty to celebrate, unlike their Ukrainian counterparts, as Andriy Shevchenko’s team came up short in their bid to take the country to a first ever major tournament semi-final.

They scraped out of their group and then edged 10-man Sweden in extra time in the last 16, and their chances of shocking England looked dead and buried when they fell behind early on.

Sterling, who terrorised the Ukraine defence down the left, played in Kane who poked the ball past goalkeeper Georgiy Bushchan.

Ukraine’s giant striker Roman Yaremchuk forced a save from Jordan Pickford and a Declan Rice pile-driver was kept out by Bushchan, with England looking comfortable.

However, Ukraine were a different proposition after injured defender Serhiy Kryvtsov was replaced by Dynamo Kiev winger Viktor Tsygankov in the 36th minute. They finished the first half strongly and more pessimistic England fans may have spent the interval reliving their exit from Euro 2016, when they lost to Iceland in the last 16 despite also having opened the scoring in the fourth minute.

Is it coming home?

They need not have worried. England scored again less than a minute after the restart when a foul on Kane allowed Luke Shaw to deliver a free-kick from the left for Maguire to head in.

Four minutes after that Sterling supplied the overlapping Shaw and he crossed for a rejuvenated Kane to head home.

The Tottenham star nearly had his hat-trick, a stinging volley producing a fine save from Bushchan.

From Mason Mount’s resulting corner came the fourth goal, another header, this time from Henderson, the first of five substitutes sent on by Southgate who would have been thinking about the semi-final long before this quarter-final was officially over.