How to celebrate beating Sweden? Ransacking an IKEA, of course
England has to win two more games to bring the World Cup home, but the enthusiasm some soccer fans displayed after their team advanced to the semifinals met international expectations of hooligan behavior.
England beat Sweden 2-0 on Saturday, and afterward, a horde of rampaging England fans invaded an east London IKEA, a Swedish-founded furniture company. A video that went viral shows fans ransacking the entire place, jumping up and down on beds and sending furniture flying as staff struggled to contain the “celebrations.”
The retailer took the incident in stride. An IKEA spokesperson released a statement which read: “We are aware of a small group of fans celebrating the match result in one of our stores.
“Being both British and Swedish, we were on the edge of our seats during the game and we would like to say ‘Grattis!’ (that’s congratulations in Swedish) to the England team for getting through to the semifinals. In celebration, we’ve put one of the nation’s favourite dishes, fish and chips, on offer for just £1.”
Spain coach fired: Fernando Hierro is out as coach of Spain’s national team after less than a month in charge and a disappointing four-game run at the World Cup.
Hierro was promoted from sporting director to the top job two days before Spain opened the tournament against Portugal. New federation president Luis Rubiales was incensed that previous coach Julen Lopetegui had agreed to take charge at Real Madrid after the World Cup without giving the federation sufficient notice.
Lopetegui was summarily fired June 13 despite a 20-game unbeaten streak that had made Spain one of the favorites coming into the tournament.
Briefly: FIFA issued a formal warning to Croatia defender Domagoj Vida, who praised Ukraine in a video after his team beat Russia. The video shows Vida shouting “glory to Ukraine.” The statement angered many Russian socialmedia users amid the political tension between Russia and Ukraine. Tensions have been high since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 . ... Russia defender Sergei Ignashevich announced his retirement. Ignashevich holds the Russian record for most international appearances with 127 and his last act on a football field was to convert a penalty during the shootout in Saturday’s loss to Croatia.