Saved by an ice breaker
Southgate’s men are frozen out until 91st minute when home side are made to pay penalty by Sterling
WHEN England lost to Iceland at Euro 2016 in Nice’s Allianz Riviera stadium and plunged the nation into a debate about whether it was the worst and most humiliating defeat in their football history, Roy Hodgson’s players fell to the turf in despair under the diffident gaze of the mansions that stared down on them from the hillsides of the Cote d’Azur.
Four years on, England confronted the side that has peopled their nightmares since then in the silence of the Laugardalsvollur stadium. This time, crowds of stately pines at both ends of the ground bore witness and the majestic volcanic mass of Mount Esja took the place of those French hillsides. The setting could scarcely have been more different but the embarrassment remained.
Against an Iceland team decimated by the withdrawal of most of its leading players, England dominated possession but, after spurning early chances, looked bereft of ideas about how to break the home side down. A game that started well for Gareth Southgate’s side began to degenerate into farce again when Kyle Walker was sent off with 20 minutes to go and Iceland scented another upset.
England were given a lifeline when they were awarded a last-minute penalty and Raheem Sterling, one of the whipping boys of Euro 2016, calmly converted it. But they insisted on courting embarrassment again when they immediately conceded a penalty to Iceland as the game lurched into injury time. Only the nerves and the poor technique of Birkir Bjarnason, who lifted his kick over the bar, saved them from more mockery.
As disappointing evenings go, it may not have quite been up there with a night out on the town in Mykonos with Harry Maguire but it was still distinctly underwhelming. Maguire may have been disappointed to have been dropped from the squad because of his misadventures on the Greek island but if he watched this, for the first time in a couple of weeks, he might be feeling lucky.
This Nations League group game was England’s first game since their 4-0 victory over Kosovo in Pristina on November 17 last year so it a certain amount of rust and unfamiliarity was to be expected but this tepid, lacklustre 1-0 victory was hardly the way to begin the build-up to next year’s rescheduled European Championships. All the excitement about a forward line of Jadon Sancho, Harry Kane and Sterling and a debut for Phil Foden melted away. None of them had the
impact that Southgate would have hoped for. And even if he will not be as dismayed as England fans, he will hope for a vast improvement when England play Denmark in Copenhagen on Tuesday.
One of the ghosts of Euro 2016 was banished before the start when Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, who scored the winner against England, withdrew from the line-up after the warm-up with injury. If England were seeking good omens, that was another one.
The next two years were spent trying to banish the nightmare on the Cote d’Azur and Southgate achieved that when he led England to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia in 2018. It is to his credit that his leadership, his man-management, his readiness to trust youth, has led England further and further away from that low point at the Allianz Riviera.
The capacity of Laugardalsvollur, which translates as Saturday Field, is just under 10,000. And only a few more than the number of Iceland players who had pulled out of this game in the run-up, citing either injury, coronavirus concerns or club commitments. In those circumstances and given the advances England have made, it was hardly surprising that the visitors dominated the first half completely.
Kane ran on to a curling low cross from Sterling after just six minutes and prodded it into the net at the back post. It should have stood but it was wrongly ruled out by a late, late linesman’s flag.
England stayed in control. Their technical ability is entrancing to watch and they monopolised possession. Eric Dier and Joe Gomez hit some searching diagonal passes for Sterling and Jadon Sancho to run in behind the Iceland defence. Only the final ball was lacking but it felt like a matter of time until England took the lead. Amid all the excitement about the front line and the debut of Foden, it was the energetic authority of Declan Rice in front of the back four that took the eye in the first half. When England did cede possession, it was often Rice who won it back.
He should have scored, too, but when Sancho laid a simple pass into his path on the edge of the six-yard box, his composure deserted him and he swung at the ball and missed.
England did their best to remain patient against the Iceland massed defence and Sterling danced through and played the ball wide to Sancho. Sancho laid it straight into the path of Kyle Walker and the Manchester City defender drilled a fierce drive into the side-netting.
But when the breakthrough did not come, there was a sense that England were getting bored of their domination and of their inability to score.
Half-chances for Sterling and James Ward-Prowse came and went and the game went flat. Ten minutes before the interval, Iceland even manufactured a chance but Arnor Ingvi Traustason curled his free-kick just wide.
England’s superiority in that first half was such that statistics showed both Gomez, with 57, and Dier, with 53, completed more passes than than the entire Iceland team, who managed 52.
But as the second half wore on, and England failed to score, frustration began to creep in to their play. Too often, good approach work was spoiled by poor deliveries from wide areas and Iceland began to scent another upset.
That sense increased when Walker was sent off but Sterling appeared to have spared some of England’s blushes with his late penalty that sent keeper Hannes Halldorsson the wrong way.
Still England attempted to court embarrassment when they immediately conceded a penalty of their own but they were reprieved when Bjarnason lifted his spot kick high over the bar.