Monday 5 June 2017

Englandxit and dumped by Iceland

Gary Lineker labelled England's shocking 2-1 defeat by Iceland as “the worst defeat in our history” as Roy Hodgson's side crashed out of Euro 2016, prompting the manager to resign minutes after the full-time whistle. Playing a country which boasts a population of little over 320,000 people, England were expected to cruise past Iceland and set-up a Euro 2016 quarter-final clash against tournament hosts France, but it wasn’t to be. England’s early lead through a Wayne Rooney penalty was immediately cancelled out by Ragnar Sigurdsson, with the defence failing to deal with a trademark Icelandic long throw, and just 12 minutes later the so-called minnows were in front through Kolbeinn Sigthorsson's shot that threaded its way under Joe Hart’s arm and across the line. Iceland's players, including the 33-year-old ex-Rotherham defender Kari Arnason, cannot claim to have superior skills. This was not an example of England being outpassed - they had 68 per cent of the possession. Even the familiar excuse of wilting in the summer sun was rendered absurd by the identity of their opponents.
Instead it was organisation that was England's enemy, in particular when conceding the early equaliser from a long throw. Even Hodgson himself might wonder how he ended up with Gary Cahill as a makeshift target-man with no fewer than four forwards - Marcus Rashford, Jamie Vardy, Harry Kane and Daniel Sturridge - attempting to play off him.

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