International

In their first knockout match in a major competition, Iceland defeats England. – A day to be highlighted in the record books.

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Allianz Riviera, Nice

England     1–2     Iceland

Rooney (4′) (pen.)     Ragnar Sigurðsson (6′)

                                Kolbeinn Sigþórsson (18′)

 

FIFA ranks England at number 11 and Iceland at 34.

 

History was made in the final Round of 16 match of the 2016 European Championship. Iceland, the smallest nation in Europe defeats one of football heavyweight, England. Three goals in the first 20 minutes decided the match.

 

Despite a great competition in the 2016 European Championship, Iceland was not coming into this match as an equal to England. Both teams were undefeated in the tournament and were looking for their second win in the tournament.

 

England had been unfortunate to be on the side of the knockout round that had all they football heavyweight, but their first match in the knockout stage was against Iceland. Iceland has had a great tournament so far, but the nation still lacked the experience in a major international tournament. England had a bigger talent pool to pick out off and a bigger football budget.

 

It started off like a match that was going to go according to the script. There hadn’t been any major upset in the knockout round of the 2016 European Championship.

 

It was a perfect start for England. An early penalty gave England the lead in the 4th minute. Raheem Sterling was brought down in the box by Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Thor Halldorsson. Wayne Rooney made no mistakes and put his goals for England up to 53.

 

England’s lead did not last long. Two minutes after going down a goal, Iceland was back on level terms when Kari Arnason used his head to flick on a throw unto Ragnar Sigurðsson, who was found alone in the penalty box facing English goalkeeper Joe Hart. There was very little Hart could have done about Sigurðsson’s strike.

 

Twelve minutes later, England was behind to Iceland. English backline was caught ball watching. Kolbeinn Sigþórsson shot didn’t look dangerous when it left his foot, but Joe Hart had a difficult time getting enough of his hands on it. The ball kept rolling into the net, and Hart would feel he should have done better.

 

England had to chase the game for the rest of the match with a lot of mishits and bad passes. As many chances as England tried to create, Iceland had arguably the better opportunities to add on to their lead.

 

Marcus Rashford came in for Wayne Rooney in the 87th minute to bring some spark to the English offense, but there wasn’t enough time to make a change to the scoreline.

There were a few late chances for England, but these chances might have been the result of Iceland sitting back in defense to protect their lead in the final stages of the match.

 

England manager Roy Hodgson resigns after their shocking defeat to Iceland.

 

Iceland is in quarterfinals, and France will be their next task. At this moment, there is nothing Iceland can do wrong in the 2016 European Championship.

 

The party might never be over for Iceland.

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