England 2-1 Netherlands
- Monday, September 7, 2009, 10:44
- Football
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Jill Scott’s powerful header in the second half of extra time sends England through to the final of the European Championship in Finland.England opened the scoring against the defensive Dutch side when Eniola Aluko squared her pass to Kelly Smith who neatly slotted the ball home. The Netherlands hit back three minutes later as poor defending enabled Marlous Pieete to drive into the corner. But, after missing a host of chances, Scott’s header on 115 minutes won it. England have not reached the final of a major championship since losing to Sweden in the inaugural European Championships in 1984. They will face either Germany or Norway – who meet on Monday – in the final at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki on Thursday (1700 BST).
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Facing a Netherlands side ranked 17th in the world, ninth placed England were expected to outclass their opponents but it was quickly obvious the defensive approach, which had seen the Dutch beat France on penalties in the quarter-final, would cause England problems. The first half went exactly to plan for the Netherlands as they stifled England, reducing the tempo of coach Hope Powell’s side. As well as leaving nine women behind the ball for the majority of the game the Dutch left two players on England’s key forward Kelly Smith who was often left fighting for scraps. However, after 25 minutes of being marginalised, Smith finally created havoc in the Netherlands back line with a jinking run which saw her drift past three defenders before disappointingly firing her shot into the body Anouke Hoogendijk. Powell threw Karen Carney into the fray at half-time in place of Sue Smith and the change revitalised England as they began to ask questions of the formerly resolute Netherlands defence.
Carney and Smith celebrate after England take the lead
After an hour, England’s patience was rewarded when a missed clearance from the Netherlands found Aluko, who edged into the penalty box before pulling the ball back to Smith who kept a cool head to slot the ball in from the edge of the six-yard-box. But England’s lead was short lived. Three minutes later, positive play from Manon Melis caught the England defence cold as she darted down the right and squared her pass to Pieete who smashed her effort into the bottom corner to equalise. As the Dutch reverted to defending in numbers Carney began to probe again, but despite three quality balls into the Netherlands box England were unable to find a finish. With both sets of players looking tired the game ebbed out into extra time. In the first minute of extra time substitute Lianne Sanderson found Farah Williams in space on the edge of the 18-yard box but the England captain ballooned her effort over the bar.
Minutes later, Sanderson should have made the breakthrough when Carney burst to the touchline and squared to the edge of the six-yard box only for Sanderson to somehow crash the ball on to the underside of the crossbar. Jill Scott missed a third gilt-edged chance for England as she headed over the bar from a corner with the goal at her mercy and it began to look like the luck might be with the Dutch. Finally however, England secured victory as Scott rose to meet Carney’s corner and powered her header through a crowd to send England into the final.
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