Euro 96 Revisited – England Demolish Dutch to reach Quarter Finals!

England beat Holland 4-1 tonight in one of the most complete performances ever seen by an England team at Wembley.
In a game where the hosts had to avoid defeat, England played with hunger and desire. There was a ruthless streak not seen in the first two matches as they didn’t just qualify for the Quarter Finals, they steamrollered their way there!

The Quarter Final will be against a resurgent Spain, who qualified earlier today with a win over Romania at Elland Road.
England will have to play against Spain without Paul Ince after he picked up a second yellow card of the tournament. The booking came two minutes before the interval and was the only downside of a near-perfect evening.

At times, England were unplayable. The Dutch could barely keep up with the blistering pace of Steve McManaman and Darren Anderton. Their defenders also struggled with the lethal front pairing of Teddy Sheringham and Alan Shearer, who shared the four goals between them.

Wembley purred with delight, each of the goals brought a fervent roar from the England fans. There was also an air of disbelief in the air and the worry that something may still go very wrong. After all this is England, the national side who over the years have learnt how to make hard work of the easiest of tasks, testing the nerves of the most loyal of supporters.

‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ was sung at various stages of the match last night. Usually heard during rugby matches at Twickenham, it sounded out of place at Wembley. The calmness at which it was sung by the England fans was indicative of the England performance; calm, precise and almost serene at times.

In the opening twenty minutes England were energetic, determined and focussed on the task in hand. A win was needed and the players were out to get it.
Alan Shearer could have scored in the opening eight minutes from a corner, hitting a snapshot volley low to the bottom corner. It went past Edwin van der Saar in the Dutch goal but there was a defender on the near post to gratefully hit the ball away to safety.
A minute later, Aron Winter headed wide for the Dutch. This was a warning to the England team of just how dangerous the Dutch were.

On 22 minutes, England were awarded a penalty following a clumsy foul by Danny Blind.
Steve McManaman broke down the right wing, slowed down and held the ball up and waited a couple of seconds for some team mates to catch up.
Reinforcements came in Paul Ince and Alan Shearer and McManaman laid the ball into the path of the on-rushing Ince. Danny Blind sent Ince flying inside the penalty area and the referee was given the easy decision of awarding a penalty.

Alan Shearer was given the responsibility and he blasted the kick to van der Saar’s right, giving the Dutch goalkeeper no chance. There was a huge sense of relief around Wembley in the celebration, but the job was far from over.

Holland had Dennis Bergkamp leading their attack and England were all too aware of what a danger the Arsenal man was. Going in to the game, he had scored 25 times for the Dutch national side in 47 appearances.
Over the course of the evening, Bergkamp showed frustration and annoyance, something not seen in his first season at Highbury.

Bergkamp should have equalised for the Dutch on 39 minutes. Michael Reiziger had rushed forward to join the Dutch attack and whipped in an inviting ball across the England penalty area.
David Seaman was left stranded and could only watch as a Bergkamp and Tony Adams fought for the ball at the far post. Adams had done enough to put Bergkamp off and the Dutchman headed wide.

This chance came during Holland’s most dominant spell of the first half. A blistering five minute spell between the 35th and 40th minute gave England a reminder that they were playing a world-class side.
In the finals seconds of a pulsating first-half, Clarence Seedorf hit a blistering shot inches over David Seaman’s crossbar from outside the penalty area.

News came from Villa Park that Scotland had taken the lead against Switzerland through Ally McCoist. At this stage, this score seemed immaterial because Holland had a better goal difference to the Scots.

England came out for the second half with the same zest and drive. They doubled their lead on 51 minutes, Teddy Sheringham heading in from a Paul Gascoigne corner.
His header was all the more impressive as the Spurs striker wasn’t able to jump to get power on the ball. Sheringham quickly readjusted his positioning to head the ball with power into the bottom corner from a stationery position.

Five minutes later England were three goals to the good and what a goal it was too!
Paul Gascoigne worked his way towards goal on the left of the penalty area before flicking the ball to Teddy Sheringham.
Sheringham feigned to shoot and at the last second, squared the ball to his strike partner Alan Shearer who stood to his right. The dummy completely wrong-footed Dutch defender Danny Blind and Alan Shearer smashed the ball high and hard into the top corner.

England were now playing with a real confidence, verging on arrogance at times. All of the doubt and uncertainty from the Switzerland and Scotland games had dissipated during this blistering attacking display.

A fourth goal came six minutes later to send the majority of the Wembley crowd into ecstasy.
Darren Anderton hit a shot from 30 yards that deflected off a Dutch defender. Edwin van der Saar was able to change direction and dived to his right to palm the ball away but it only went straight to Teddy Sheringham who blasted the ball hard in to the back of the net.

The game fizzled out somewhat after this, being played at a much slower pace and both coaches made a few substitutions. One of the Dutch substitutes did make an impact on the game however, as Patrick Kluivert hit a consolation goal after 78 minutes.

Two minutes prior to Kluivert’s goal, Terry Venables brought both Teddy Sheringham and Alan Shearer off to a standing ovation from the England faithful. Whether it was to rest the duo or not is unknown, but the scorers were able to sit back and enjoy the last few minutes from the relative comfort of the substitutes’ bench.

Tonight will go down in history as one of the greatest England performances and who knows, maybe football might just be coming home…

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