Euro 2017: Bitter deja vu as England Lionesses fall short

Holland 3 England 0

England's hopes of winning Euro 2017 were dashed as tournament hosts Holland won 3-0 on what the Daily Mail calls a "harrowing night" for Mark Samson and his team.

The Lionesses were the highest-ranked side in the last four and favourites for the title after France and Germany's quarter-final exits.

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But they were well below par and suffered a "shock semi-final mauling" in Enschede, says the Mail.

In the absence of midfielder Jill Scott, England looked lacklustre and "were simply overwhelmed in midfield and lacked energy through the middle".

Holland took the lead through Vivianne Miedema on 22 minutes and things got worse in the second half, when a poor Fara Williams header teed up Danielle van de Donk to make it two.

An injury-time own goal from Millie Bright was the final indignity and the team were "reduced to tatters" and "uncharacteristically cowed and thoroughly chastened", says Louise Taylor of The Guardian.

It appeared as if England took a "step too far", writes Tony Cascarino of The Times.

"England looked one-dimensional," he adds. "They have had great success at this tournament with Jodie Taylor being clinical up front and then being hard to beat, but it seemed as though Holland had worked them out.

"Sampson's side look most comfortable when they haven't got the ball but it’s not enough to be solid and try to score on the break. You have to have a plan B, but once they went behind England never looked likely to equalise."

There is a sense of deja vu about it all: England also went out at the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2015.

"For the second tournament in a row, the Lionesses have fallen short in the final four," says Luke Edwards of the Daily Telegraph. "For the second tournament in succession, they have raised the profile of women's football in this country, only to fail to get their hands on the silverware that would have really sealed their legacy.

"They leave Holland with a familiar feeling, a sense of what might have been, that bitter sensation of knowing they have wasted another golden opportunity to end this country's long wait for a tournament triumph."