#2 England bow out to Iceland in Euro ‘16
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England came into Euro ‘16 with high hopes. Armed with the firepower of in-form strikers Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane, and the experience of Wayne Rooney, they expected an easy entry into the quarter-finals when they found out that their round of 16 opponents was lowly Iceland, who had surprisingly qualified 2nd from their group.
And that quarter-final spot looked to be sealed when Raheem Sterling was brought down inside the area. Wayne Rooney duly converted from the spot putting the Three Lions ahead within 4 minutes.
But nothing would prepare them for the 15 minutes that followed. First, Ragnar Sigurdsson, the Fulham centre-back equalised in two minutes from an Aron Gunnarsson long throw. And on 18 minutes Iceland chalked up a nice passing move from their right-hand side, and Gylfi Sigurdsson set up Kolbeinn Sigthorrsson for a shot from the edge of the area.
It was a weak shot, and Joe Hart got a hand on it, but the Manchester City goalkeeper could not keep it out, and Iceland took a shock lead.
Iceland held on to the one-goal advantage, defending as a team and England once again knocked out of an international tournament. The result came as a shock to many, who would have expected England to at least make the quarter-finals.
While not many would have England marked as favourites for the tournament, it was a disappointing performance from them, and there lies much work ahead.
