On a wet and windy day in Amstelveen, England overcame the Netherlands in the first of the day's semi finals, once again in a golden goal competition. With just 47 seconds on the clock Ashley Jackson struck, deflecting a Simon Mantell's pass into the back of the net.
Both sides started cautiously but had chances early on. The Netherlands had a penalty corner after only five minutes but the ball was put wide from the shot. Half way through the half and Teun de Nooijer broke away but his shot was well saved by goalkeeper James Fair. A fine turn of speed by Robert van der Horst down the middle was cut out at the edge of the circle. With ten minutes to go England won their one and only corner of the match, but Ashley Jackson's flick was well saved by Guus Vogels. Three minutes from half time and the Dutch had two corners, both well saved by Fair.
The second half started with much pressure from the Dutch and they won a corner in the first minute, but the ball was cleared. Eight minutes later and the Dutch won their fifth corner of the game, again well saved by Fair. Then four corners in quick succession, two of which were not stopped by the Dutch, another fine save by Fair, and then a switch by Taeke Taekema to Fair's left and the Dutch were level.
The game went from end to end and both sides had chances, and both keepers had work to do. It seemed as if when the rain abated and the sun came out, so did the saves from James Fair, who was most commentator's man of the match.
1-1 at full time and the golden goal rule came into place. England started well and James Tindall's turn and shot forced Vogels into a save once more when captain Barry Middleton tried to get on the end of it to push it into the goal. A short while later Middleton nearly got on the end of a Ben Hawes cross but he couldn't quite tip it in.
Extra time went end-to-end for almost 15 minutes, though Fair had no saves to make as the England side kept the pressure on the Dutch. Finally Jackson put the ball in the net and was then mobbed by the whole team. Job well done. The first semi-final win in any major competition for some years.
England will play the Germans in Sunday's final after they defeated Spain in the second semi final. This will be a rematch of the pool match which finished 4-4 and was one of the most exciting games of the tournament.
