Netherlands1 - 1England

Hello and welcome to Sports Mole's live commentary of Wednesday's Euro 2024 semi-final between the Netherlands and England at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund.

A coveted place in Sunday's Berlin final against Spain is on the line for both sides, who reunite five years on from their last semi-final showdown in the Nations League, where Oranje triumphed 3-1.

Ronald Koeman's men did it the hard way in their 2-1 quarter-final triumph over Turkey to progress to the final four, while England needed five perfect penalties to eliminate Switzerland in the last eight.

Make sure you do not miss a minute of the action courtesy of our minute-by-minute updates below.

Sort:

Newest

Oldest

Auto-refresh:

On

Off

28 min

Side note, Kane is now level with Alan Shearer on seven Euros goals for England. And what a penalty it was.

26 min

At the risk of jinxing it, this is by far England's best performance at Euro 2024 so far. The Dutch living incredibly dangerously and just unable to contain Southgate's inspired team.

24 min

CLOSE! Mainoo and Foden link up brilliantly as the latter prods the ball towards goal from a tight angle, and his toe-poke beats Verbruggen but Dumfries is there to stop the ball right on the line!

23 min

CLOSE! WHAT. A. CLEARANCE!!!!

22 min

Kane doing Kane things. For all the criticism, he now has a joint-high three goals at the Euros.

20 min

There will certainly be some debate about the awarding of the penalty - I initially didn't think it was, but upon seeing a replay, Dumfries did go in with his studs.

England's brilliant response is rewarded.

18 min

GOAL! Kane makes no mistake! Verbruggen dives the right way, but Kane's penalty is just too perfect.

England are back on terms, and they deserve it!

18 min

GOAL! NETHERLANDS 1-1 ENGLAND (KANE)

17 min

PENALTY! PENALTY FOR ENGLAND!

Dumfries led in with his studs and caught the top of Kane's boot, and the Three Lions have the chance to respond almost immediately!

Kane to take as Dumfries is booked.

16 min

ZWAYER IS GOING TO THE SCREEN!

14 min

SHOT! Kane now fires over the top after a quick break and brilliant work from Saka!

But England want a penalty - their captain is down after a clash with Denzel Dumfries...

14 min

SAVE! HARRY KANE HAS A SHOT!

The Bayern Munich man tests Verbruggen from range, but the Brighton & Hove Albion man saves well down to his right.

13 min

Analysis from Sports Mole football editor Matt Law:

"Some strike from Simons, who has struggled to really make his mark this summer, but that was an indication of his quality.

"England had made a positive start, but that is a real setback at this stage. There are more goals in this, though, and the next one has to be for England if they have any ambitions of reaching the final. Euro 2024 has had some underwhelming matches, but this has started very well."

13 min

Trippier takes this one and finds Rice at the back post. The Arsenal man tries to cut back for a teammate but can only find the boot of Van Dijk.

12 min

Foden takes it but his Manchester City teammate Ake heads clear.

But Saka wins another almost immediately... albeit a bit further out. Positive response.

10 min

Who would have had Simons out-muscling Rice down before the game? Certainly not me, but that was terrific work from the Dutchman.

England now have a free kick in a promising area as Bellingham is fouled...

7 min

GOAL! AND THAT IS WHAT XAVI SIMONS DOES. THE NETHERLANDS LEAD IN THE SEVENTH MINUTE.

Declan Rice is the guilty party, losing the ball to Simons in a dangerous area, and the Paris Saint-Germain starlet fires in a terrific 20-yard drive into the top corner!

7 min

GOAL! NETHERLANDS 1-0 ENGLAND (SIMONS)

7 min

Kieran Trippier goes for the long ball over the top to Bellingham - back in Dortmund territory - but it rolls harmlessly through to Bart Verbruggen.

5 min

CHANCE! England quickly go down the other end and Saka floats in a cross to the back stick, but Stefan de Vrij is there to clear.

End-to-end very early on.

4 min

CHANCE! The effervescent Simons charges forward on the right and tries to thread a pass into Malen, but Guehi does enough to shield the ball back to Jordan Pickford.

4 min

England settle into a nice period of possession and Phil Foden wins a free kick off of Jerdy Schouten.

The Manchester City man already making his presence felt in the centre.

2 min

Malen immediately tries a run in behind but the Dutchman is caught offside.

Early warning sign though.

1 min

KICKOFF: THE SECOND EURO 2024 SEMI-FINAL IS UNDERWAY!

England get us going in Dortmund.

7.58pm

One of the more powerful renditions I've seen from the England XI.

Now the Dutch are bellowing out their anthem. Van Dijk taking it all in, and why wouldn't he?

7.56pm

And here they come! England and the Netherlands emerge to a cacophony of cheers at the Signal Iduna Park, which has a notably orange feel to it tonight.

Time for the anthems, with God Save The King first up.

7.54pm

Zwayer looks as stoic as anything in the tunnel, as do the two captains.

The customary pre-game ceremony is well underway, and the two teams are about to emerge.

How are the nerves?

7.52pm

Tonight's referee is Felix Zwayer, who may not be too happy to see Jude Bellingham, and vice versa.

The England midfielder mentioned Zwayer's implication in a German match-fixing scandal after Borussia Dortmund narrowly lost a Bundesliga thriller to Bayern Munich in 2021.

Just the €40,000 fine for a then-teenage Bellingham back then...

7.50pm

In contrast, the Netherlands managed to edge out Turkey 2-1 in the last eight, albeit with the help of an own goal after falling behind to the Crescent-Stars.

Victory for Oranje, and a chance at restoring the glory days of 1988 will await for Ronald Koeman, bidding to lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy as both a player and manager.

7.48pm

The 16-year-old's strike may have just been *slightly* better than Bukayo Saka's against Switzerland, before the Three Lions struck five perfect penalties to banish the 12-yard demons of Euro 2020.

However, not since the opening success over Serbia have they won a game in 90 minutes... so strap in folks. This one may go on for a while.

7.46pm

Reminder - the victor of Wednesday's semi-final at a rain-soaked Westfalenstadion will face Spain in Sunday's final in Berlin thanks to La Roja's narrow success over France.

How many times have I watched that Lamine Yamal goal today? Quite a few.

7.44pm

Speaking of orange-clad attacking threats, the Three Lions backline may have their work cut out to contain Xavi Simons and Cody Gakpo.

The latter has three goals to his name at Euro 2024 - no player has hit the four-strike mark yet.

7.42pm

As is the case with England, the Netherlands also make just the one change from their semi-final success over Turkey. Donyell Malen replaces ex-Tottenham Hotspur man Steven Bergwijn in attack.

Wout Weghorst is also snubbed again, but expect the towering talisman to come off the bench at some stage.

7.40pm

Now, how about the first record of the evening?

Kobbie Mainoo is now the youngest Englishman ever to start a major tournament semi-final at 19 years and 82 days. And the Manchester United man has well and truly earned it.

7.38pm

Turns out last night's reports were correct too - Luke Shaw is on the bench as Kieran Trippier starts again at left-back. Or left-wing back. Who knows what system Gareth Southgate will go with?

7.36pm

As expected, just the one change to the England XI tonight, as Marc Guehi comes back in for Ezri Konsa after serving a suspension in the quarter-final win over Switzerland.

Harsh? Perhaps - Konsa was a defensive rock last time out. But Guehi has been outstanding throughout the tournament.

7.34pm

NETHERLANDS XI: Verbruggen; Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Ake; Schouten, Reijnders; Malen, Simons, Gakpo; Depay

SUBS: Bijlow, Flekken, Bergwijn, Blind, Brobbey, Frimpong, Geertruida, Gravenberch, De Ligt, Maatsen, Veerman, Van de Ven, Weghorst, Wijnaldum, Zirkzee

7.32pm

ENGLAND XI: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi; Saka, Rice, Mainoo, Trippier; Bellingham, Foden; Kane

SUBS: Henderson, Ramsdale, Konsa, Dunk, Alexander-Arnold, Shaw, Gallagher, Wharton, Eze, Gomez, Palmer, Bowen, Gordon, Toney, Watkins

7.30pm

Good evening everyone! Thank you all for joining us for a Euro 2024 semi-final blockbuster between the Netherlands and England at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund.

With Spain's spot in Sunday's final already secured thanks to their beating of France last night, either Gareth Southgate's men or Ronald Koeman's troops will earn the right to face La Roja with the Henri Delaunay Trophy at stake on Sunday.

While Oranje managed to get the job done in normal time against Turkey in the quarters, England required penalties to see off Switzerland, but all five of their spot kicks were exceptional.

The first whistle will blow in just 30 minutes time, so let's have a rundown of tonight's team news...