AND A SHOWER
In 2016 Iceland enjoyed their greatest night, for England it was a nightmare
IT WAS one of the worst nights in England’s proud football history.
The humiliation of Euro 2016 when Iceland humbled England in Nice, forcing Roy Hodgson to resign immediately after his team crashed out of the tournament. More than four years on, the memories still bring back “goosebumps” for the Icelandic heroes.
England looked inhibited and scared, like the pressure weighed heavy on their shoulders, whi l e Iceland’s footballers celebrated their greatest night by reaching the quarter-finals.
It must be seen as a turning point for England because ever since Gareth Southgate’s mantra has been about taking away the fear of playing for your country.
But that will be tested in Reykjavík tomorrow when England face Iceland for the f irst time since that nightmare, although there will be no “thunderclap” from
ICE BREAKER Players start the celebrations and it’s despair for England as once again they failed to fire at a big tournament home fans – just an empty stadium. Iceland striker Kolbeinn Sigthorsson ( below, battling with Chris Smalling), 30, who plays for AIK in Sweden, scored the winner against England and believes that memory will haunt this generation. Sigthorsson said: “We have good memories from the last game against them. This is a fun challenge and we look forward to it. It would be great if we could get good results against England again. England are playing with confidence, but hopefully they have not forgotten the last game and that could help us.”
Aron Gunnarsson ( left), scorer of Cardiff ’s first Premier League goal when they beat Manchester City 3-2 in 2013, still remembers England getting stage fright – especially when Iceland fought back from going 1-0 down to Wayne Rooney’s fourth-minute penalty. Gunnarsson, 31, said: “I felt like England’s early goal was going to help us. I felt all did in unison – and they are no longer seen as pushovers, despite being ranked 39th in the world by FIFA.
However, there will be no repeat for Gunnarsson - the most recognisable member of the Iceland team because his new club in Qatar, Allike
Arabi, have blocked him from joining up.
Iceland are also without Gylfi Sigurdsson, Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Alfred Finnbogason.
Their former coach Heimir Hallgrimsson (circle, below, left, who left in 2018 but is now in charge of Al-Arabi, said: “It was probably the easiest game to get the players motivated for. It was more important not to get over-excited, not to be scared of the names of the opponents.
“It was quite easy psychological- wise going into that game, and we knew that the prize if we won would be it would be talked about forever in Icelandic sports history, so it was almost impossible to lose that game.
“England didn’t create a lot of goalscoring chances. That was probably the game I really felt the most relaxed. The performance by the guys was superb.”