Kane could have had a hat-trick – he caught a left-foot volley with murderous power on 62 minutes, which drew a fine save out of Georgiy Bushchan – and he deserved the man of the match award. There was more than one here as England cut loose.
When a team is this untroubled at the back, and here they permitted Ukraine precious little, the attacking players can have the confidence to know that even one moment from them could be decisive. They have already beaten England 1-0 at Wembley this season and drawn 0-0 with them in Copenhagen.īut what fires English belief is how balanced they have come to look. Denmark are running on emotion and an extraordinary feel-good factor a nation united after Christian Eriksen’s collapse during their first game against Finland. The captain has now scored nine goals at major championships – one short of Gary Lineker’s England record.Ī note of caution. With an early Kane goal to settle them, they subjected Ukraine to an onslaught in the second half, Harry Maguire and Henderson heading home from set pieces and Kane helping himself to another in between times. It was a potentially fraught combination, the excess before a crash, a scenario we have seen before, but England’s focus was faultless. The pre-match expectations had been sky-high after the epic last-16 win over Germany last Tuesday, and Ukraine, who had scraped out of their group with three points, were viewed as being straight-forward opposition. Only five times previously have England got this far at a major tournament and the sense that the squad is peaking at the right time is unmistakable.
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