Can England’s resilience and new penalty skills lead Southgate to the Euro final?

Very simply put, England have a couple of exceptional moments and a textbook set of penalties to thank for an opportunity to hand Gareth Southgate yet another first as Three Lions manager.

Victory tonight would mean a first major tournament final overseas for the men’s team, and whether you think they’ve stunk the place out in Germany, or you admire their remarkable resilience, here we are.

Southgate admitted yesterday that his squad were not themselves during the group stages, that they were terrified of failure, of "public embarrassment", and so played fearing the consequences.

That suffocating mindset has now changed he said and the prospect of what can be achieved this week has liberated his team from its self-imposed shackles.

We saw a few signs of that against Switzerland, but they’ll need more than a few against the Netherlands if they’re going to go to Berlin on Sunday.

England have only won one game in normal time and that was the first against Serbia, and in both knock-out games they’ve gone behind only to claw their way back into each contest with late goals: one of them very, very late.

Tonight will feel very much like an away game for England and for one night only the iconic and imposing yellow wall of Dortmund will turn bright orange.

Many of the Dutch players will be known to Southgate’s men and also to the casual England fan. Virgil Van Dijk, Cody Gakpo of Liverpool and Manchester City’s Nathan Ake to name three decorated Premier League stars.

The Netherlands, however, were also not at their best during their group matches and only qualified as one of the best third-placed teams.

Since then though, their form has improved dramatically with five goals in two games since going through to the knock-out stages.

Gakpo is out in front in the race for the Golden Boot having notched three times; Harry Kane is only one behind him, and while the England captain’s performances so far have divided opinion, he has a very good record when he’s come face to face with Van Dijk.

It’s likely to be a tight, tense night and it would surprise no one if it meandered to extra time and penalties.

While the fans here and at home might find that a terrifying prospect, it would definitely make England favourites to face Spain in the final.

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