BY TIM PARSONS
Roy Hodgson has retired as England manager after an embarrassing defeat to Iceland- the smallest nation in the European tournament.
In one of their worst performances in a major tournament, Iceland whose participation was their first in a major tournament, inflicted an embarrassing defeat on England. England have now been dumped out of Euro 2016.
After Wayne Rooney gave England the lead, they conceded a goal within a minute before having that equalizer transformed into a lead that was sustained until the end. Hodgson came into this competition with a perfect ten out ten record only to blow it against a country with a population of about 300,000, equivalent to the size of Leicester. Leicester as we know, were the surprise premiere winners of last season’s league.
England had been unlucky to lose their one nil lead against Russia in their opening game after conceding in the last minute to earn Russia a draw. However, their 2-1 victory against Wales in their next game gave England a hope. However, the defeat against Iceland is a big blow for a talented side like England and unfortunately shows the England side to simply not be good enough. The irony of this statement is that we have a team with a good blend of talent, who are overpaid, but yet can’t deliver on a consistent level.
Losing to Iceland is as embarrassing as it gets. It also gives credit to an underrated side with little accomplishment in it’s football history. What will make this defeat even more disgraceful is if France comfortably defeats Iceland in their quarter final meeting. Their game will provide a good measure for assessing both Iceland and England. If Iceland beats France, England can be forgiven. However, we can bet France will throw Iceland out and show England the way they should have done it. Football can often be unpredictable, but a world class team with genuine ability are not expected to lose to professional novices like Iceland. Not even as a fluke. Iceland barely have any recognized stars with international experience, which makes it very doubtful they will progress far in this competition.
Iceland will definitely be motivated by their defeat of England, but whether that victory can be translated to meaningful progress in a competition saturated with talented teams is yet to be seen. One certainty yet to be disproved is that Iceland are not good enough win this competition or even fluke it to the finals. Only if they defy all odds and achieve the unthinkable will England’s humiliating defeat to Iceland be seen in different light. Hodgson was the highest paid manager in the world, and therefore was expected to to deliver better results. Hodgson admitted his contract was to be over at the end of the competition anyway, so it hardly appears he has missed out on much. in terms of money.
pic By Clément Bucco-Lechat – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
