England v Netherlands: Three key moments
Pic: The Watkins After Scoring Ollie Winning Augstein Celebrates Winner, Winner: England's Frank Goal
In comparison to the Premier League, VAR has played a rather subdued role in this tournament, but the penalty awarded for Denzel Dumfries’ challenge on Harry Kane is the kind of decision that makes the neutral sigh.
Referee Felix Zwayer was ushered towards the pitch-side monitor by the video assistant referee, and once he saw there was contact the result was inevitable.
In reality, Dumfries was simply trying to block Kane’s effort and caught his trailing foot accidentally – after the shot had been fired. But that is modern football. It was a crucial moment, changing the momentum of the game as Kane scored from the spot.
With the game level at 1-1, Dumfries was in the thick of the action again when Phil Foden cleverly wriggled his way to within six metres of goal and dinked a shot that seemed destined to put his side ahead.
Somehow, however, Dumfries, got back to clear off the line, easing Netherlands nerves at a time when they were under intense pressure.
There was no way of keeping the Inter Milan man out of the headlines in the first half, because he also thundered a header against the crossbar, but that moment, standing on his own goal line, had the biggest impact.
When Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins came on for Harry Kane with 81 minutes gone, there were almost certainly an awful lot of England fans on sofas wondering why on earth Ivan Toney had been ignored.
After all, it was Toney who had changed the previous two games with cameo performances in Kane’s absence. But Gareth Southgate chose Watkins, Toney’s predecessor at Brentford, instead – perhaps for his extra pace and pressing technique.
It was a decision that worked, because with extra time looming, Watkins collected a pass from fellow substitute Cole Palmer, turned Stefan de Vrij, and finished quite superbly.
A moment that put England in the final – and which surely ended the criticism of their manager in the process.