Great Success, England Beat Ukraine 4-0 And Walk To Euro 2020 Semifinals

England midfielder Jordan Henderson (second right) celebrates with his teammates after scoring his team's fourth goal against Ukraine. (BETWEEN photo)

JAKARTA - The England national team is confirmed to return to their home Wembley Stadium to play the semifinals of Euro 2020 after qualifying by beating Ukraine 4-0 in the quarter-finals at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy, Saturday local time (Sunday 4 July morning).

Harry Kane bagged a brace, flanking Harry Maguire's goal before Jordan Henderson scored his first England goal to bolster Gareth Southgate's side's run to the semifinals.

England will next face Denmark, who had already qualified for the semifinals after eliminating the Czech Republic in the other quarter-finals, according to UEFA's official website.

England got off to a perfect start and took the lead with just four minutes left after Raheem Sterling ended his run down the left with a pull-back which was met by Kane's fine effort to beat goalkeeper Heorhii Bushchan.

Ukraine tried to put up a fight and in the 17th minute Roman Yaremchuk managed to penetrate the English penalty box, unfortunately his shot under John Stones' tight control could still be countered by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

On several occasions the right side of the England defense occupied by Kyle Walker continued to be used by Ukraine to press, but they never found a quality finish.

In contrast, England almost doubled their lead in the 33rd minute when Declan Rice fired a long-range shot which Bushchan sadly thwarted before Mason Mount's volley of gag missed the crowd of Ukrainian players.

Six minutes later, Luke Shaw sent a pull bait into the middle of the penalty box unfortunately Jadon Sancho's finishing shot was still headed straight for Bushchan and the linesman had raised the offside flag for Shaw. If the ball goes into the net, it is highly likely that VAR will confirm the goal, as replays show Shaw was not offside.

England maintained 1-0 advantage until half-time and less than a minute into the second half the Three Lions brilliantly doubled their lead over Ukraine through Maguire.

Starting from a foul on Kane, Shaw sent a free kick into a mature cross and Maguire, who stood in an offside position, beat Mykola Matvienko in an aerial duel to head the ball into the Ukraine goal.

England's second goal seemed to have come as a big surprise for Ukraine, who failed to keep up their guard and conceded again in the 50th minute through Kane's header.

Sterling carefully heeled a cross to Shaw who turned it into a cross to Kane's header which put the ball between Bushchan's legs and England added to a 3-0 lead.

Kane almost completed his hat-trick in the 62nd minute when he met Sterling's header with a sharp volley, but this time Bushchan was able to hit the ball.

Henderson, who had only been on the bench for Rice for six minutes, headed home from Mount's cross and scored England's fourth goal. The goal marked Henderson's first achievement in an England uniform.

The four-goal advantage, as reported by Antara, made Southgate make three direct substitutions, pulling out Sterling, Shaw and Calvin Phillips, each being replaced by Marcus Rashford, Kieran Trippier and Jude Bellingham.

In the 70th minute, Pickford, who had been solid throughout the tournament, made a blunder when he came out of the net and failed to clear the ball perfectly, luckily neither he nor England had to pay a heavy price as Ukraine failed to capitalize on it.

The 4-0 score was able to be maintained by Pickford et al until the final whistle sounded, and not only recorded a win and booked a place in the semifinals, England also maintained their score as the only team that had not conceded a goal throughout the Euro 2020 finals.