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LONDONThe brutal efficiency, the defensive rigor, the cold-eyed finishes. England had seen them all over decades of heartbreaking clashes with Germany. And it knew that Tuesdays Euro 2020 knockout game against its historically punishing opponent would only bring more.

What the Three Lions couldnt predictbecauseyears of frustration had taught them not towas that all those killer qualities would belong to England for a night.

In its most significant victory since the 1966 World Cup final, England not only beat Germany 2-0 to cap a wild 72 hours of tournament soccer. It also opened up the most promising path to the Wembley Stadium final of any team left in the Euros.

Englands road now runs through Ukraine, in Saturdays quarterfinal, and then the winner of Denmark vs. Czech Republic. The other half of the draw, meanwhile, still contains Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland, all ranked in the top 13 teams in the world.

Englands players resisted the urge to get carried away. Forty-five thousand fans were inside Wembley Stadium on Tuesday to do that for them. They had stewed over defeats to Germany at Euro 1996 and the 1990 and 2010 World Cups. Entire generations of England supporters had come and gone without experiencing a single knockout-round win over their bitter rival.

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England Opens a Lane to the Euro 2020 Final - The Wall Street Journal