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The teams are out! England in their white shirts, navy shorts and white socks. Netherlands in their famous all-orange number. It is 33°C in Bratislava, and probably is even hotter on the pitch.
Fair play to Jay Stansfield. The Birmingham striker has scored 23 goals in League One after his £15m move and was excellent against Spain with his pressing and composure as the focal point of England’s attack, justifying Carsley’s decision to start him. The England manager has some serious options on the bench: Marseille striker Jonathan Rowe, Arsenal wonderkid Ethan Nwaneri, and Aston Villa’s Iling-Junior are all waiting in the wings.
These are the highlights from England’s win over Spain in the last round. It really was a complete performance against the pre-tournament favourites.
Here is Ed Aarons’s preview of the match, with England manager Lee Carsley reflecting on the under-21 European success two years ago, and midfielder Alex Scott also remembering his own European title wit England at under-19 level three years ago. Scott scored the winning goal in that semi-final against Italy, and here’s what he had to say this week:
It’s one of my proudest moments of my career so far. Any time I’ve been to England [is a proud moment] but to win a tournament in England was really special. I think that brings experience as well. A few of the lads have been there and done it. I know what it takes to win a major tournament. Hopefully we can take that experience we have and take it into [the Netherlands match].
The teams!
England: Beadle, Livramento, Quansah, Cresswell, Hinshelwood, Hutchinson, McAtee, Anderson, Stansfield, Elliott, Scott.
Subs: Sharman-Lowe, Simkin, Edwards, Egan-Riley, Norton-Cuffy, Hackney, Fellows, Gray, Nwaneri, Rowe, Iling-Junior.
Netherlands: Roefs, Kasanwirjo, Maatsen, van den Berg, Hato, Flamingo, Valente, Milambo, van Bergen, Manhoef, Poku.
Subs: Raatsie, van den Heuvel, Saleh-Eddine, Meijer, Goes, Regeer, Banzuzi, van Brederode, Ohio.
Preamble
Here we are again, England in the latter stages of a European Championship.
Both teams here have had similar tournaments, starting slow in the group stage, finishing second, but starting to warm up in the knockout round. England defeated pre-tournament favourites Spain in the quarter-finals while Netherlands played for 70 minutes for 10 men but managed to sneak a late goal against Portugal to win 1-0.
England make just one change from the starting XI that beat Spain, Elliot Anderson coming in for Tyler Morton in midfield.
That red for for Ruben van Bommel means the son of the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich midfielder, Mark van Bommel, is suspended for this semi-final, a huge miss for the Dutch. The Netherlands also had a man sent off in their final group game, a 2-0 win over Ukraine, after substitute Youri Regeer was dismissed for a wild tackle nine minutes after coming on. Regeer returns to the bench for this one.
Those familiar with British football will recognise some of the Dutch names: Ian Maatsan is probably the biggest star, and the Aston Villa left back was the player of the match in the last round against Portugal. Neraysho Kasanwirjo played at Rangers this season but struggled to break into the first XI, while Rav van den Berg was a consistent performer for Middlesbrough and Million Manhoef has shone for Stoke City.
Kenneth Taylor is a huge star in central midfield and was voted as Ajax’s player of the year last season – he has been linked with moves to Villa, Arsenal and Newcastle in the recent past.
It should be a cracker: 5pm BST kick-off.
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