Posted: 2024-07-06 21:47:51

England scored all their penalties for just the second time in their history and are through to another major tournament semifinal after beating Switzerland.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands came from behind to down Türkiye in Berlin and a Spanish star will miss the rest of the tournament through injury.

Here's the five quick hits from Euro 2024.

1. England through to semifinals after shootout with Switzerland

Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold smile forehead to forehead

England are back in a semifinal at a major tournament.(AP Photo: Darko Vojinovic)

After so many painful 12-yard setbacks, England embraced the shootout on Saturday as they beat Switzerland 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw to reach the semifinals of Euro2024 and move to within a step of their first overseas final.

Trent Alexander-Arnold slammed home the decisive last of a faultless five to send England into their third semifinal in four tournaments after Jordan Pickford had saved from Manuel Akanji.

In a game of few chances, Breel Embolo had put Switzerland ahead after 75 minutes, with Bukayo Saka brilliantly levelling five minutes later.

England then slotted all of its penalties — just the second time in 10 attempts in international competition it has done so — to progress to the semis.

"Incredible. A lot of practice goes into that moment," Alexander-Arnold said of the penalty he smashed into the top corner. 

"I practice. I knew what spot. I knew I just needed to execute it and I did that."

England came into the game on the back of two dire performances and, though they showed more invention and movement, there was again little end product, and with the Swiss equally cautious, there was barely a meaningful effort on goal for an hour.

Switzerland, impressive victors over Italy last week and seeking their first major semifinal, took the lead when Dan Ndoye whipped in a deflected low cross with Breel Embolo stretching to poke it home.

Southgate responded by immediately throwing on three substitutes — Cole Palmer, Luke Shaw and Eberechi Eze — and five minutes later energised England were level as Saka cut in from the right wing and curled a superb 20-metre left-footed shot in off the far post.

In extra time, England's Declan Rice had a fizzing shot from the edge of the box brilliantly saved by a diving Yann Sommer, while Xherdan Shaqiri clipped a post direct from a corner, before the penalties that had felt inevitable almost from the start duly arrived.

Switzerland had lost three of their four major tournament shootouts, while England's famously uncomfortable record was seven defeats and two wins.

That reads 7-3 now after Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Saka, and Ivan Toney all scored confidently ahead of Alexander-Arnold's finale.

The Swiss also lost in the quarterfinals of the last Euros in a shootout, and coach Murat Yakin said: "After such a performance we didn't deserve to be knocked out.

"We can be really proud of our tournament. To the end we stood as one and the joy we gave to the nation gives a very positive feeling."

2. Netherlands down Türkiye thanks to own-goal

Wout Weghorst smiles and holds up his arms

The Netherlands came from behind to beat Türkiye and a parochial crowd in Berlin.(AP Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi)

An own goal by Mert Muldur completed a Netherlands comeback as they beat Türkiye 2-1 on Saturday to book a Euro 2024 semifinal meeting with England in Dortmund.

Türkiye took the lead in the 35th minute after the Dutch failed to clear a corner, leaving Arda Guler to cross perfectly to the back post with his right foot for defender Samet Akaydin to head home.

Guler went close to adding a second early in the second half when he hit the post with a free kick, and it was to prove a costly miss when Dutch defender Stefan de Vrij equalised with a powerful header in the 70th minute.

That goal gave the Netherlands the lift they needed, Muldur turning the ball into his own net under pressure from Cody Gakpo and the Dutch hung on despite a number of late opportunities for Türkiye.

"This is very important and very beautiful, with such a crowd," Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk said. 

"We knew there would be a lot of Turks in the stadium, but I'm proud of these guys.

"In the end we got sloppy, but actually we didn't give anything away. In the second half, we had to stay calm and take advantage of our chances. Of course, we thought it would be fine, it would be very bad if we didn't think so.

"We are one step closer."

3. Saka revels in redemption

Bukayo Saka cups his ears with his hands and sticks out his tongue

Bukayo Saka was the scapegoat for England's last penalty shootout defeat.(AP Photo: Darko Vojinovic)

Saka, who missed in England's Euro 2020 final shootout defeat by Italy, stood up again on Saturday and converted confidently in front of a wall of England fans.

His was the decisive penalty in the Euro final in 2021 that was saved to seal the title for Italy at Wembley Stadium.

Saka and fellow Black players Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, who also failed with their spot kicks in that shootout, then received horrific racial abuse on social media as a result.

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