Sterling And Kane Send England Beat Germany, Three Lions To Euro 2020 Quarter-finals

Harry Kane celebrates victory over Germany (Twitter @euro2020)

JAKARTA - Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane led the England national team past Germany in the Euro 2020 round of 16 matches which they won 2-0 at Wembley Stadium, London, England, Tuesday local time.

With this victory, England became the seventh team to qualify for the quarter-finals following the steps of Denmark, Italy, Czech Republic, Belgium, Spain, and Switzerland.

Although indirectly the status of the visiting team, Germany performed relatively better throughout the first half in an effort to dismantle the English defense.

Leon Goretzka tested goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the fifth minute, before three minutes later he was brought down by Declan Rice on the counter-attack which unfortunately resulted in a free-kick that could not be utilized optimally.

England then created two chances in a row through Raheem Sterling's long-range effort which was kept out by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and Harry Maguire cleared Kieran Tripper's corner which he headed so weakly despite the lack of significant control from the German players.

Maguire wasted yet another golden opportunity when his header in a corner missed the target in the 27th minute.

Six minutes later, at the opposite end of the pitch Pickford made a brilliant save to stop Timo Werner's shot from finding Kai Havertz's cross before securing the ball in the second chance.

⏰ RESULT ⏰

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Sterling & Kane net as England reach the quarter-finals 🎉

🇩🇪 Germany lose in the round of 16 at a major tournament for the first time.

🤔 Fair result at Wembley Stadium?#EURO2020

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 29, 2021

The chaos in front of the German goal came late in the first half when Matthias Ginter's tackle on Sterling saw the ball fall in front of Kane, but as he has shown throughout the tournament the England captain squandered the opportunity for taking too long to make decisions before Mats Hummels cleared.

Germany entered the second half with the same level of confidence and came close to taking the lead when Havertz found a wild ball on the edge of the box with a volley, which Pickford, unfortunately, saved over the bar.

The stalemate continued for a long time until finally in the 75th minute Sterling continued his duties as England's only goalscorer in the tournament to find the net against Germany to give the hosts the lead.

Starting from a movement that was initiated by the Manchester City striker himself, the ball touched the feet of Kane and Jack Grealish before being sent as a lure by Luke Shaw which Toni Kroos and Ginter failed to anticipate before being greeted by Sterling's sweet flick which deceived Neuer.

Germany tried to score a comeback in the 81st minute when Thomas Mueller escaped the offside trap but the Raumdeuter failed to beat Pickford in a one-on-one situation with his finishing shot missing.

Five minutes later, England doubled their lead with Kane's first goal of the tournament, which was reviewed by VAR before being confirmed by referee Danny Makkelier.

Shaw pushed Grealish's ball into space on the right side of the German penalty box before sending a low cross to Kane's header.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England have beaten Germany for the first time in a knockout round of a major tournament since 1966 🎉#EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/G8HBoO9gHJ

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 29, 2021

Germany struggled to fight back but time was running out and Goretzka's acrobatic cross failed to reach Havertz in the first minute of injury time before the final whistle sealed England's place in the quarter-finals.

While Gareth Southgate's side will face Ukraine, Germany will head home, and their farewell game with Joachim Low ended in relative disappointment.