Here’s why England fans should expect more of the same against Iceland

A video emerged online of the Welsh squad cheering and jumping from chairs in their team hotel after Iceland knocked England out with a 2-1 win on Monday night.

The tournament has been a triumph for the smaller nations with both Iceland and Wales reaching the quarter-final and Northern Ireland reaching the last 16.

England boasts more than five times as many football players as their opponents’ population. We were left a touch disappointed after giving up our 1-0 lead against Hungary in the second game but against Austria, wow what a finish to the match.

“Gylfi Sigurdsson was talking to me back at Swansea what they were like”.

“We are optimistic. Some Icelanders maybe think we are too optimistic, that we don’t think we can fail, but we have a game plan”. “If we go to war, we probably lose rather quickly”.

Iceland’s other joint coach Heimir Hallgrimsson believes the side are capable of achieving similar results in the future.

“So these guys are the Icelandic army, that’s why everyone is supporting them”.

For years to come, the story of Iceland at the 2016 Euros will be remembered as one of sport’s most endearing. They worked incredibly hard for their win, but the game can be summed up that their goalkeeper had little or nothing to do in the second half, so atrocious were Englands efforts to secure an equaliser. The Icelandic fans had anxious that the English chants would overpower them with them out numbering Icelandic fans 10 to 1, but the opposite turned out to be true with thr Icelandic fans roaring in their corner of the stadium, with drum beats echoing throughout the stadium with synchronized “oohhhm” chant piercing through the English cheers. “Whichever way it goes, these players are winners already”. The recent Icelandic elections had a record low turnout because an estimated ten percent of the entire country were in France watching them take on England.

“The physical battle, we’re not afraid of that one”, said Hallgrimsson, who will take over sole control of the team when Swedish co-coach Lars Lagerback retires after Euro 2016. It looked like finishing 1-1 with a last-16 tie awaiting us against Croatia, but then Arnor Ingvi Traustason popped up in injury time to score the winning goal.

What makes the victory more remarkable is that compared to the well established and cash-stuffed domestic league in England, Iceland’s domestic football is a more semi-pro affair.

“I never expected it – never in a million years”, he said.