Iceland takes on England, the team it’s cheered from afar

“Fair credit to Iceland, they are a hard team to break down and we have to be at our best to win – we know that – and take our chances when they come”, he added.

Roy Hodgson is overseeing the youngest England squad in a competitive tournament for 58 years, with an average age of 25 years and 10 months.

Iceland, who are making their debut at the tournament, qualified for the knockout stage after a memorable 2-1 win over Austria saw them finish second in Group F.

England will start Monday’s match versus Iceland in Nice as the favourites, but Hodgson has warned it will not be an easy game.

“I think we have done that well in the tournament”.

“As far as “Brexit” is concerned, that’s of great interest to the nation, but as far as we’re concerned our concentration has just been about football”, he said.

“We appreciate the way they have played and they have our respect, but we will have to find out a way of breaking them down”. Lose to Iceland, a country with a population of 330,000 and historically counted among Europe’s weakest teams, and Hodgson’s reign could end after four years.

Hodgson left the press conference room immediately after reading out his statement and a Football Association press officer said that he would not be performing any other media interviews.

Midfielder Elmar Bjarnason and head coach Lars Lagerback discuss Iceland’s match in the round of 16 against England. “So I’d like to put one or two of them right”, he said.

“We fancy ourselves against anyone”. Iceland captain Aron Gunnarsson has also played in the Premier League for Cardiff City, while veteran striker Eidur Gudjohnsen won two Premier League titles with Chelsea.

“We are here and we want to win it. We are not going to say that getting to the quarter-finals will be a sign of progress. He is one of the players we have to look out for, but we will not exclusively focus on Sigurdsson”.

“I expect England will have a little more possession but you never know”, he said.