England End 55-year Wait for Knockout Win over Germany

England struck twice late on to end a 55-year wait for a knockout tie victory over Germany amid scenes of huge tension and elation at Wembley to reach the Euro 2020 quarter-finals.

England will feel confident but not complacent against Ukraine in Rome on Saturday.

Gareth Southgate’s side battled hard to earn the statement 2-0 victory that has so often eluded England, and it was their talisman of this tournament, Raheem Sterling, who made the decisive breakthrough.

Sterling, who scored the winners against Croatia and the Czech Republic in the group stage, steered in Luke Shaw’s cross after 75 minutes to send England’s fans, with more than 40,000 inside Wembley, into wild celebrations.

The win was secured with another moment of significance four minutes from time when captain Harry Kane, who had once again struggled to influence the game, headed in from substitute Jack Grealish’s perfect delivery for his first goal of Euro 2020.

England were again thankful for the brilliance of Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who has yet to concede a goal in the tournament and saved crucially from Timo Werner and Kai Havertz in each half, while Thomas Muller missed a glorious chance to equalise before Kane struck.

Southgate’s team selection raised eyebrows when he decided to leave the creative talents of Grealish and Phil Foden on the bench and showed huge faith in Arsenal teenager Bukayo Saka by starting him after his fine performance against the Czechs.

Saka was excellent, the early spark when England struggled, while Grealish added the crucial X factor when he came off the bench to finally help break Germany down.

The scenes at the final whistle demonstrated just how important this win is for Southgate and England, digging deep and surviving periods of struggle to overcome old rivals who have so often got the better of them.

And this may just rank as the biggest and most important victory of Southgate’s time in charge.

The last 16 was round that carried so much jeopardy for England when the draw was made, with the knowledge that topping their group would likely mean a meeting with the ever-dangerous Germany, World Cup holders France or reigning European champions Portugal.

While Group F minnows Hungary very nearly caused a huge upset,in the end it was Germany who confronted them and Southgate, who most tired of seeing replays of his penalty miss against them in the Euro ‘96 semi-final, now has a happy memory to cherish from this fixture, not to mention a potentially favourable route forward in this tournament.

This defeat was the end for Joachim Low as Germany coach after a glittering career that brought a World Cup win in 2014 in Brazil.

He now makes way for Bayern Munich’s Champions League-winning coach Hansi Flick – and this performance showed there is rebuilding to be done.

Germany still have plenty of talent in the shape of players such as the elegant Havertz, Joshua Kimmich and others but this may well have been the last fling for older stars like Mats Hummels, Toni Kroos and Muller.

England will feel confident but not complacent against Ukraine in Rome on Saturday, and the shock exit of France to Switzerland shows no-one can be taken lightly.