England vs Iceland a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
June 28, 2016
1,847 Views
- Actually this one could be quite a few thoughts
- The most embarrassing England display that I have witnessed in my 32 years of being alive
- A result that saw Roy Hodgson’s position untenable once the final whistle had blown
- Did he do the honourable thing in stepping down straight after the game, perhaps
- But it’s a situation we should never ever have found ourselves in
- It’s as almost as if they turned up expecting to win and how it backfired
- But it started so well didn’t it
- Within three minutes Raheem Sterling who was recalled to the starting eleven had won a Penalty
- Wayne Rooney duly stepped up and put England ahead
- The perfect start
- But that perfect start was undone just a minute later
- Iceland’s not so secret weapon of a long throw was utilised once again and this time to great effect
- Wayne Rooney failed to win the first header
- Which saw the ball then spill into the box, Kyle Walker was well out of position and had crucially lost his man
- This allowed Ragnar Sigurdsson to head unmarked into the England net and restore parity within a minute
- England were shellshocked
- They then went in search of a goal to put them ahead once more
- Dele Alli’s volley flying just inches over the bar
- Daniel Sturridge was ineffectual out wide and looked nothing like the player who came on against Wales
- Possession was given away cheaply time after time
- Then disaster struck
- Absolute disaster
- England’s marking was poor from what seemed to be a harmless throw in
- After some neat interchange in which England couldn’t get close to the ball, Gylfi Sigurdsson found himself in acres of space
- He then threaded the ball through to Kolbeinn Sigthorsson
- Who himself still had work to do before hitting what should have been a routine strike for Joe Hart to save
- Only once again his chocolate wrists on show for the world to see
- The limp wrist of Hart could not stop the ball meekly trickling over the line to give Iceland a sensational lead
- 19 minutes in and the Footballing world is turned on it’s head
- But England never recovered from this
- Harry Kane had a decent volley saved but that was arguably the only decent effort in a miserable tournament
- England limped to half time and now Roy Hodgson had 45 minutes to save his job
- Eric Dier was sacrificed for Jack Wilshire at half time
- Harsh on Dier who was one of the few players to come out of this tournament with any credit
- But Wilshere did nothing to turn the tide
- He once again turned in another turgid performance
- At one point he was playing as the last man as Iceland went in search of a third
- Hart slightly atoned for his earlier error by keeping out a bicycle kick from Sigthorsson but he would still have to apportion a lot of the blame for his howler earlier
- But England were now lost
- Playing without ideas or a system
- They couldn’t do the basics like string a set of passes together
- It was frankly embarrassing to watch
- The longer it went on the more we showed ourselves up
- Jamie Vardy was again sent on to try and rescue a result but he was ineffectual against Iceland’s deep backline
- Hodgson was now a rabbit caught in the headlights and his players now mimicked him on the pitch
- Devoid of ideas or character, where were the leaders
- Someone like Rooney to take the game by the scruff of the neck
- Once again he went missing
- A theme all too constant through the England side last night
- The final roll of the dice was wonderkid Marcus Rashford, he was given three minutes to do something magical
- He did more in those three minutes then the rest of the team had done in 87
- Why on earth did he not come on earlier
- Hodgson’s misguided loyalty to his players had once again been his undoing
- Rashford played without fear but it was too little too late
- England had limped to their worst defeat ever
- Iceland with an historic victory
- But this was no fluke they truly deserved it
- They outclassed England in every department
- England sent packing, Hodgson quits before a sacking
- An awful end to an abject tournament
- Iceland now move into the Quarter Finals where they take on France
- Hodgson and the England squad of 2016 hang your heads in shame
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