Gareth Southgate insists Phil Foden had his best game in an England shirt in Euro 2024 semi-final win over the Netherlands, and explains why he took off captain Harry Kane for goalscoring hero Ollie Watkins

Gareth Southgate praised Phil Foden’s finest performance in an England shirt after the Three Lions beat the Netherlands 2-1 on Wednesday night to reach the final of Euro 2024.

England fell behind early in the match to a goal from Xavi Simons, but equalised through a penalty from Harry Kane, with Ollie Watkins scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute.

Foden had been substituted when Watkins scored his goal, but earlier in the game a shot had been cleared off the line and hit the post. The Manchester City playmaker fared much better.

Southgate, speaking after his side’s historic victory, felt Foden had made a big impact on the match, having previously struggled to match his club form for the national team.

“That’s a good thing because he’s played in an England shirt and he’s had a huge influence on the game,” Southgate said.

Foden saw a shot cleared off the line (pictured) and also hit the post with a long-range shot

Southgate praised Foden’s ‘huge influence’ on the game after struggling earlier in the tournament

Foden was substituted with around 10 minutes remaining as part of a double substitution, with Southgate also replacing captain Kane. Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins came into action.

It proved an inspired move as Palmer played the through ball that Watkins controlled and slotted home, sending England through to Sunday’s final.

Southgate made a good choice in replacing Kane, especially as he had made history earlier in the European Championship by scoring the most goals in the knockout stages of the competition.

Southgate explained why he made the decision that turned out perfectly.

“Energy-wise we started to lose a bit of pressure,” Southgate said.

‘Harry had already had that knock in the first half and Ollie is good at pressing and making those runs at the back, which he did. So we thought it was a good time to try it.’

Harry Kane was replaced by Ollie Watkins with around 10 minutes remaining

Watkins then scored the winning goal and Southgate explained that he brought Watkins on to give England more energy after Kane had taken a knock in the first half

On Palmer and Watkins’ involvement in the winning goal, Southgate added: ‘Sometimes it can work like that. The most important thing is that the squad is ready to go into the game.

It’s hard to choose 26 [players]but we spent a lot of time with these guys.’

England are playing their first major tournament abroad and Southgate admitted his 101st game as manager was the best of all.

It has to be the best [achievement]”It’s a new milestone. The way we played the whole game, we played so well. It was a complicated game,” he said.

‘They kept changing, we had to adjust our defensive play, but I thought we caused them problems all night.

‘We also had a shot from Phil cleared off the line, the disallowed goal was [a matter of] ‘Keep your fingers crossed, I think we deserved the win tonight.’