England has defeated Denmark 2-1 in a thrilling semifinal at Wembley Stadium. Video / Sky Sport
The football world was disgusted by a juvenile act at Wembley as England and Denmark played out a thrilling Euro 2020 semi-final.
Harry Kane's goal in extra time — scoring from the rebound after goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel saved a controversial penalty that stirred up plenty of debate — gave England a 2-1 victory and the Three Lions will play Italy in the decider for the chance to win their first major international trophy since the 1966 World Cup.
Schmeichel was Denmark's best, having an outstanding game between the posts. An incredible save to deny Raheem Sterling from close range in the first half was followed by more impressive stops as the game wore on, preventing England from getting the go-ahead goal it desperately wanted before the first 90 minutes were up.
He did brilliantly to save Kane's penalty but had no chance of stopping the follow-up. Making Schmeichel's save even more remarkable is that he did it while an idiot in the crowd was trying to put him off with a laser pointer.
A green mark hovered around Schmeichel's face as he stared down Kane, sparking widespread condemnation from fans watching on.
Former English football player turned pundit, Stan Collymore, tweeted: "If anyone shone a laser pen at Schmeichel, they want banning for life."
Newspaper editor Kevin McGuire wrote: "CCTV everywhere so the idiot who shone a laser pen at Kasper Schmeichel during the penalty should be pictured, identified, prosecuted, jailed, shamed and banned from football for life. Dangerous idiot."
Journalist Gareth Davies added: "Booing the Danish national anthem. Shining a laser pen at Schmeichel as the penalty was taken. Why is that (some) England fans never miss a chance to bring shame on the country?"
DJ Zoe London said: "Oh my god who used a laser pen on Schmeichel's eye in the penalty that's absolutely dreadful."
A green mark hovered around Schmeichel's face as he stared down Kane. Photo / Twitter
England on the cusp of greatness
Gareth Southgate praised the "incredible job" done by his players as England ended a 55-year wait to reach a major tournament final.
"I'm so proud of the players," Southgate told ITV. "It's an incredible occasion to be a part of — we knew it wouldn't be straightforward, we said to the players we'll have to show our resilience and come back from some setbacks, and we've done that tonight."
England conceded their first goal of the tournament when Mikkel Damsgaard drilled a free-kick past Jordan Pickford, but the hosts soon equalised as Simon Kjaer turned into his own net.
"I felt we would get there. I knew we would have different sorts of battles because Denmark are so underrated as a team," said Southgate.
"They did cause us a lot of problems, when you've waited as long as we have to get through a semi-final, the players, considering the limited international experience some of them have had, they've done an incredible job."
Southgate credited Kane for keeping his nerve after having his penalty saved initially by Kasper Schmeichel.
"There's nobody you've rather have on it, but you're up against a great goalkeeper who he's obviously faced a lot of times — but thankfully that's now immaterial."
After falling to Croatia in extra time in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals, England made sure there was no repeat slip-up in front of almost 65,000 fans at Wembley.
"The most pleasing thing is that we've given our fans and our nation a fantastic night, and the journey continues on for another four days," said Southgate.
"To come through that sort of a night we suffered in Moscow (in the World Cup semi-final) and on a night like this we've managed to put things right."
But he was quick to shift his focus to Monday morning's (NZT) final against an Italy side on a national record run of 33 matches unbeaten.
"We're in the final and we've got to enjoy that fact, but there's one more massive hurdle to try and conquer," Southgate said.
