Holland-daze Watkins puts England in dreamland

Put out more flags. Dig out the St George’s Cross jester’s hat. Prepare to throw what remains of your plastic beer glass in the air.

- Barney Ronay

England’s footballers will now contest the final of Euro 2024 in Berlin this weekend, against Spain, after yet another thrilling moment of late drama in Dortmund.

Ollie Watkins was the late hero, the Aston Villa striker playing at his first tournament, and a late sub for Harry Kane with the game poised at 1-1. England and the Netherlands were already staring balefully at the prospect of extra time when Watkins took a pass from Cole Palmer, another sub, turned swiftly, didn’t look up, and hammered the ball home.

Sign al Iduna Park is another of the Rhineland’s huge industrial metal football hangars. In that moment the ground just exploded, a huge wave of noise barrelling down from England end, the bench emptying on to the pitch. England, who have been pilloried, questioned and insulted by influential broadcasters, will now play in their second straight final in this tournament and they did it not just by winning late, but by playing well too, producing their best performance of the summer.

From the start the occasion felt big, epic, retro, and always somehow slightly out of control on the emotional scale. Dortmund was thronging all afternoon with orange shirts, crackling with broken glass under foot, its winding streets haunted by England songs, England wails and drones and chants. Don't Take Me Home. Phil Foden's On Fire, and a recent addition to the canon, Stop the Boats Nigel Farage.

For a while even the rain was massive and relentless, drenching the deep green turf, creeping in through the holes in the corrugated roof, cooling the clammy air.