Impotent and vulnerable, England do NOT look ready for the Euros...
their morale-sapping defeat by Iceland was not a false result, writes OLIVER HOLT Jon Thorsteinsson netted the only goal as Iceland defeated England at Wembley By Oliver Holt Published: 22:00, 7 June 2024 | Updated: 22:30, 7 June 2024 e-mail 14 shares 5 View comments It was a decent climb to the upper tier of the Allianz Riviera Stadium. The first thing that grabbed the attention eight years ago was the sight of the pastel hillsides of the Cote d’Azur rising into a sky of brilliant blue above the stand opposite. The second thing was the sound.
It was new to some of us. The slow, rhythmic clap that came from the large cluster of Iceland fans already inside, gradually getting faster and faster and louder and louder until it reached a crescendo and finally faded away. It quickly turned into the soundtrack for an England humiliation.
That day in June 2016, which ended with a 2-1 defeat for England in Nice in the second round of the 2016 European Championships , was one of the low points in the history of our game. Some compared it with the defeat to the USA in Belo Horizonte the 1950 World Cup. Eight years on, all those bad memories, all those uncomfortable associations, came flooding back.
Eight years ago, Iceland sent England home from a tournament red-faced with embarrassment. This time, as they inflicted another morale-sapping defeat on the team that is the bookmakers’ favourites to win in Germany, they e.
