And now the English are REALLY out of Europe!
Hart gaffe reduces England to new low despite dream start
ALOT of people in England have been trying to turn back time over the last few days — and yesterday Roy Hodgson managed to get it all the way back to Belo Horizonte in 1950.
Not since a distant World Cup, 66 years ago, have England suffered a humiliation as great as this. Beaten by Iceland — a nation with a population the size of Leicester, playing in their first international tournament. For Hodgson, this was the bitter end. His players were booed, individually and collectively, and there was none of the residue of goodwill felt at the end of the 2014 World Cup.
He goes now, as he should have then, the signs of progress that the FA demanded sadly absent in a display as confused and ineffectual as any England have delivered at a major tournament to date.
Beaten by the United States in 1950, England at least had mitigation. It was their first tournament, and in South America. These were unfamiliar circumstances.
What are the excuses here? It was hot? We’re playing Iceland. It’s a young team? We’re playing Iceland. We had a lot of possession? We’re playing Iceland. We’ll be better next time? Iceland, Iceland, Iceland.
England’s opponents were organised and defended magnificently, but this is a limited team who were thrilled to be involved in a knockout game at a debut tournament. All week they talked of their excitement at facing England — a team of players brought up on the Premier League.
Yet there was no gulf in class on the night, no suggestion that England had the answers as they huffed and puffed their way through the second half.
Hodgson’s England, packed full of match-winners we were told, had 72 minutes to equalise and could not. Joe Hart made the best two saves after half-time. There is no way back for Hodgson now. England will spend the rest of the summer looking for a new manager — and a way forward from here.
It was hard to compute the feeling of shock inside this stadium when Slovakian referee Damir Skomina blew for half-time.
Iceland jubilant in a way few can have imagined, England despairing and fearful. Any optimism was based on history and presumption, the inherent belief that there was no way England, this team that has been built up to be so full of promise and verve, could lose to Iceland, even on a bad day.
Yet this was a very bad day; a day gone bad beyond all expectation. England had the dream start, the early goal that it was felt would decide this match without doubt in their favour. Iceland would then have to come out of their shell, which is not their style, and attack, which is not their strength.
Bring it on. Ha ha. Two goals and 13 minutes later it transpired England’s defence are in no position to lay down that gauntlet to any opponent — even one built on resilience and cussedness as Iceland are.
Before this tournament, Hodgson scoffed when told England’s defence was weak. He pointed to a strong defensive record in a qualifying group that was not so much toothless as positively gummy; he flagged up a clean sheet against a Portugal team shorn of Cristiano Ronaldo and its 11th man before half-time in a friendly.
Here was the dreaded reality. An England team unable to hold a lead against Iceland for, what, two minutes.
An England goalkeeper now at fault for two goals in four games in a tournament. Hart, it seems, is not as free of flakiness as his shampoo sponsors would have us believe.
Hodgson will have had a plan for this match and we can presume the first five minutes went to it. Daniel Sturridge cut inside from the right, where he is presently exiled, and hit a weak shot wide. A loosener, really. A statement of intent.
This was going to be how the game unfolded. England having a go, Iceland establishing banks of resistance.
Just two minutes later, Sturridge played a ball to his former Liverpool teammate Raheem Sterling, and England were away. Out came Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson — hero of the win over Austria that brought them here — and he clumsily took Sterling down.
It was a silly foul, one of a player unused to the nerves that an occasion such as this can bring. Sterling was heading away from goal, going nowhere. Still, it was a penalty and Wayne Rooney stepped up to take it.
Low, to the left, it was his 53rd goal in an England shirt, and the one intended to settle the nerves. England did not last long enough to even consider their emotional state.
It was like watching Arsenal trying to defend against Stoke’s Rory Delap. That same confusion, the same frustration that good players were so totally flummoxed by such a simple tactic. Aron Gunnarsson delivers a throw-in as Delap once did, flat, fast, accurate. Like a decent cross. Yet England’s defenders deal with decent crosses all the time. What is it about this that so scrambles their minds?
Kari Arnason won the header, flicking it on for Ragnar Sigurdsson, who had completely lost his man Kyle Walker.
He has been brilliant in this tournament going forward, Walker, but there have always been questions about his defensive smarts. Sigurdsson had space, a proper run at the ball and left Hart no chance from close range.
Nobody can say England were not warned. Hodgson had mentioned Gunnarsson’s throws as a principal line of attack in his press conference on Sunday, while Iceland joint coach Helmir Hallgrimsson had flagged up that his team were dangerous from set pieces. What did England’s defenders need? A fiveminute warning? Written notice?
England were rocked, obviously, but the night was young, and there would be opportunity aplenty to put this right.
Still, it took them another 10 minutes to have a crack at Iceland’s goal, when Dele Alli returned a clearance from outside the area. Soon after, Harry Kane held the ball up on the left before turning inside to hit a shot. And then the unthinkable happened.
It was a neat interchange of passes by Iceland around the edge of England’s area before Gylfi Sigurdsson threaded it through to Kolbeinn Sigthorsson. Yet there was little pressure on the ball and Iceland’s No 9 had the sight of goal to try his luck.
What followed was a small catastrophe for Hart. He got a hand to the ball, but not with the force to repel it, and it trickled away from him and over the line.
Iceland’s players celebrated wildly, Hart smacked his forehead repeatedly, his team-mates looked haunted.
Again, it took them 10 minutes to regroup.
Yet now there was a sense of panic in the play. Passes going astray, moves breaking down at crucial moments.
Kane met a Sturridge cross on the volley after 30 minutes, tipped over by Halldorsson — sheer instinct over-riding any nerves — and a deep free-kick by Kane was just too much for Alli at the far post, but it wasn’t a case of England dominating and Iceland meekly hanging on.
Ari Skulason had one go wide from 30 yards after 35 minutes and another sloppily defended set piece after 55 minutes ended with Ragnar Sigurdsson attempting an ambitious overhead kick which Hart kept out from seven yards. Had that gone in, it would have been all over. It soon was.