England return home after losing to Iceland

England took an early lead thanks to Wayne Rooney's successful penalty kick, but a loss of concentration in defense cost them a 1-2 defeat and they were eliminated in the round of 16 of Euro 2016.

Roy Hodgson's team was gifted the opening goal by the Icelandic players, who are big fans of the Premier League, in the fourth minute. The "Three Lions" fans thought it would be an easy match for the home team against an opponent who was much weaker in terms of level. However, that was just the prelude to the tragedy of the English players in the remaining minutes when Ragna Sigurdsson and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson played the role of death with two goals in the 6th and 18th minutes respectively.

The first half was one of the best matches of the tournament. Both teams started the game at a fast pace and continuously created threatening situations towards the opponent's goal. In the fourth minute, Raheem Sterling was fouled by goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson in the penalty area and Wayne Rooney made no mistake to put England ahead early.

Their advantage, however, lasted only two minutes. Roy Hodgson had warned his players before the game about the long throws of their opponents. But his warnings may have been wasted. Aaron Gunnarsson took a throw-in aimed at Kari Arnason, who headed the ball into the far corner of the England goal for Ragna Sigurdsson to tap the ball past Joe Hart.

England lost by a throw-in despite being warned in advance. Photo: Reuters.

This is an attack that Iceland used a lot in the group stage and it brought them a goal against Austria. However, despite being publicly reminded by the coach, England's stars were still made to look like fools. In the Premier League, there is no shortage of teams practicing this type of throw-in to take advantage of their aerial ability. Therefore, this is not the first time Roy Hodgson's students have faced this type of attack but still conceded.

By the 18th minute, the game was turning into a nightmare for England. Kolbeinn Sigthorsson finished off a lightning-fast combination, straight into England's centre, with a low shot that Joe Hart couldn't do anything about. In this situation, the England goalkeeper reacted too slowly, resulting in him touching the ball but not being able to stop it from going into the net. In the 2-1 win over Wales, Hart was also heavily criticised for diving too slowly, resulting in his failure to block Gareth Bale's free kick.

England created plenty of chances in the remaining minutes of the first half but failed to score. And they would regret that in the second half. Iceland put on an excellent defensive display based on their fitness. England's squad at this year's Euros has one of the youngest average ages and their players have been hardened in a tough league like the Premier League. But that was nothing as Iceland often won the one-on-one duels.

Joe Hart made another mistake in the second goal. Photo: Reuters.

Despite bringing five strikers to France, Roy Hodgson's team still showed a poor attacking style. They mainly pushed the ball out to the wings to cross because they could not find a better way. However, Iceland's defense defended the high balls very well. Harry Kane, the spearhead of England's attack, played poorly but was still kept on the field for the full 90 minutes. Kane was often assigned to take free kicks but he did not take them well.

After a convincing qualifying campaign, England soon showed the image of a team with poor attacking play. Instead of finding a way to stabilize the squad, Roy Hodgson continuously experimented in the group stage and that unintentionally "killed" England. Against Iceland, the "Three Lions" showed the face of a mediocre team, powerless to approach the opponent's goal.

The defeat meant England had not advanced beyond the first knockout round of a major tournament since Beckham’s free-kick gave them a 1-0 win over Ecuador at the 2006 World Cup. Immediately after the match, manager Roy Hodgson handed in his resignation. Four days after Britons voted to leave the EU, England staged their own Brexit with a dismal performance.

Meanwhile, Iceland continued to write new pages of history when they became the opponents of the host team France in the quarterfinals. If they continue to play confidently like this, the Nordic team will be an unpredictable unknown in this year's tournament.

According to VNE