England have only themselves to blame as again they make an early exit from a major tournament. Having avoided Portugal courtesy of the last minute Icelandic goal against Austria; It was supposed to be the easier route to the Quarter Finals for the three lions. What happened next was just too unforgivable a sin. We take a look at five mistakes that could have otherwise change their fortune in the tournament.
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#1 The starting line up
Raheem Stirling has been at the forefront of criticisms in this Euro thanks to his poor display in the group matches. He looked rusty and uncomfortable with the ball. Although there were glimpses of his quality it’s safe to say; he was nowhere his best. The inclusion of Raheem Stirling especially after being left out against Slovakia comes as a surprise for many of the English fans.
The gamble to tinker with the starting line-up didn’t help either, Roy Hodgson was expected to start with the same team that beat wales in their last group match but staggeringly he made six changes that no one saw coming. The risk strategy that he opted didn’t work and it only made his task harder to come up with the perfect 11 for the game against Iceland. Throughout their short spell in the tournament, Hodgson didn’t seem to know his best playing 11 which is shocking knowing the fact that they were the only team to get through the qualifiers unbeaten.
#2 Poor set pieces and lack of creativity up front
England was uncharacteristically wasteful with the set pieces throughout the 90 minutes. Harry Kane’s free kicks in particular, were awful. In a match where Iceland threw bodies in front of the ball and protecting their lead like soldiers would do for their country; the three lions should have at least made the keeper work with their set pieces.
Apart from the long ball which earned them a penalty, they were lacklustre throughout the match and lacked the aggression and the creativity to create goals scoring chances. Too many misplaced passes didn’t help their course either with Rooney surprisingly the culprit on many occasions. The three lions resorted to long balls and long range shot with neither of them troubling the solid Icelandic defence.
#3 Joe Hart should have done better
Ah! England and their goalkeeping howler. Who can forget David Seaman watching a Ronaldinho free kick, sail over his head in the 2002 World Cup or Robert Green’s moment of shame against the USA in the 2010 edition. To put Joe Hart in this same category is harsh but one would expect a professional keeper of his calibre to have easily save Sigurdson’s shot in the 16th minute.
Although one might argue that Gary Cahill could have obstructed Hart’s view, the shot simply lacked the power to really trouble any top keeper in the world.
#4 Roy Hodgson got his substitutions all wrong
Jack Wilshere sat out most of last Premier League’s season owing to his injury. So how he made it to the England Euro team is anybody’s guess. Hodgson played him in the group stages but to be fair to Wilshere he looked very uneasy with the ball and overall lacked match fitness and failed to make any impact. After seeing his performances the fans would have been hoping that Ross Barkley would get a look in but Hodgson seems to have a lot of trust in the Arsenal man.
Marcus Rashford was introduced as late as the 85th minute, he did make a couple of good runs down the flank and did look dangerous but to be fair to the fairy tale kid, five minutes isn’t enough time for him to script history. The 19-year-old should have been introduced earlier in the second half.
#5: Too much of the pressure
If you are Goliath and a strong favourite to win the match, you are expected universally to thump your opposition. But with the tag of the favourite also comes the enormous pressure. Although it started brightly for the three lions and its faithful, it all went downhill especially after conceding the second goal.
The players seemed to have been struck by the situation they were in; they looked to have been overcome with shock like as to say ‘How on earth can this be happening?’. England barely threatened their opposition throughout the match as looked desperate for the equaliser. It resulted in a lot of miss passing, misunderstanding, unnecessary long balls and long shot which barely troubled the Icelandic keeper.
What was required of the England teams in such dire strait situations was calmness and nerve of steel which was definitely lacking. Had England held their nerves and played the game like how they played throughout the qualifiers it would have been a different outcome.
