Iceland Knocks England Out Of Euro 2016
In what was perhaps the most surprising win of the 2016 European Championship, Iceland has managed to knock England out of the championship and earned themselves a spot in the quarter finals.
The loss against Iceland comes at a time for England where there is already a lot of turmoil in the country. Over the weekend, the United Kingdom had voted to leave the European Union in a historic referendum.
As England lost to Iceland with a final score of 2 -1, newspapers across the globe called the defeat the second ‘Brexit’ in three days.
At first, it seemed as though England was going to sail straight through to the quarter finals. A penalty by Wayne Rooney early on in the fourth minute.
However, it wasn’t long before iceland was also on the scoreboard, as Ragnar Sigurdsson scored Iceland’s opening goal two minutes later in the 6th minute. Then, in the 18th minute, it was Kolbeinn Sigthorsson that would make Iceland’s dreams come true.
After half-time things quickly went pear shaped for England, and the final nail in their coffin came when the final whistle blew and the score was 2 -1 to Iceland. Something they surely never expected.
As the final whistle blew there were two distinctly different emotions around the stadium. One of immense disappointment and sadness from the English players and supporters and one of sheer joy and surprise from the Iceland players and supporters.
Iceland will now face host nation France in the quarter finals.
As for England, this defeat could possibly go down in history as one of the most humiliating ever. And as such, England coach, Roy Hodgson, has resigned from his position.
In statement addressing his resignation, Hodgson said that he is extremely embarrassed by the performance:
“…I’m extremely disappointed of course about tonight’s result and ultimately our exit from the competition. We haven’t progressed as far as I thought we were capable of, and that’s obviously not acceptable,” he said.
He continued saying that if he can’t deliver results, then someone else will have to:
“…We are in the results business…Now is the time for someone else to oversee the progress of this young, hungry and extremely talented group of players,” he said.
