We had been demanding substitutions from Gareth Southgate for weeks on end.

Here, at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund, on the periphery of Utopia, the England manager executed the most remarkable double substitution in the history of his side.

Southgate substituted Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer for England’s all-time record scorer Harry Kane and Footballer of the Year Phil Foden with 81 minutes remaining with the Dutch pinning back the country following a superb first half.

When Palmer passed to Aston Villa’s Watkins in the ninetieth minute, the striker turned and fired a shot into the bottom corner.

The Netherlands were suԀԀenly beaten, and England found themselves in Never-Never Land—the final was set for Sunday in Berlin against Spain.

Even though Southgate had been under fire and mocked in recent weeks, he was now pulling off a brilliant tactical manoeuvre that sent England to their second straight Euro final.

Now, in three consecutive knockout games, England has overcome a deficit to win.

This side clearly has it in them, and they showed it in this instance when they cranked on the style with an incredible first half full of energy and purpose, levelling Xavi Simons’ early score through a penalty kιck from Kane.

There was a rare occasion in which England was playing in a big international semifinal.

Similar to Turin in 1990, where Gazza shed tears, and Moscow in 2018, when England threw away a lead against Croatia in the era of Southgate’s sentimental waistcoats.

Perhaps it was only the extreme humidity that caused a stunning cloudburst an hour before kickoff, or perhaps the weight of history appeared to hang heavily in the air.

England’s supporters were so outnumbered that it seemed like an away game against Dortmund, and the famed Yellow Wall was painted orange.

Being ever cautious, Southgate chose his typical squad, with Marc Guehi being the sole player to return from a ban instead of Ezri Konsa.

He had been telling himself that they had been playing well, if not the rest of us.

Nevertheless, it didn’t really matter how England got here now that they were. This was all that was important.

Prior to kickoff, they performed “Three Lions.” Thirty years of suffering may potentially extend to sixty years if this crew failed to destrоy the formbook and the history books.

After seven minutes, though, the Dutch scored their first goal on аttаck.

Xavi Simons dribbled past Jordan Pickford and into the far corner, robbing Declan Rice as he went.

Strangely yet, England had come out of the gate far more smoothly than they had in any game since their opening encounter with Serbia.

Saka was a mouthwatering devilment, as evidenced by his goals and his man of the match performance in their quarterfinal victory over Switzerland.

Saka then set up the path for England to equalise after Bart Verbruggen blocked a fierce effort from Kane near the bottom corner.

The Arsenal man darted inside from the right, headed into a scrum of orange, then saw his pass deflected to Kane, who shot wide before he was caught by the boot of Denzel Dumfries.

At first, ref Felix Zwayer wasn’t interested but he was sent to his monitor and awarded what was very much a new-school slow-mo VAR penalty.

Kane stepped up and drilled it low to Verbruggen’s right. Doubted by most of us, the England captain was suԀԀenly tied for the lead in the Golden Boot standings with three goals.