England take aim at Iceland

  • Post published:June 27, 2016

England will face Iceland in the final game of the last 16 in Euro 2016 action on Monday as the sides battle to take their place in quarter-finals.

England will be confident of overcoming surprise package Iceland in the contest having beaten the minnows in both of the sides’ previous meetings. Iceland, meanwhile, will take solace from the fact that the last time the sides faced-off was a full 12 years ago, meaning that that 6-1 defeat will have little impact on the current side’s confidence.

England finished second in Group B following a frustrating stalemate against Slovakia in their final first round game, while Iceland spectacularly claimed the runners-up spot in Group F following a dramatic late win over Austria.

Both sides will be at full strength for the tie as neither squad has any injuries, while both outfits also have a clean disciplinary slate with no suspensions or threat of suspensions for the next round.

‘We have to accept the title of favourites, and they will be the underdogs, but regardless it will be a difficult game and they will be hard to beat,’ said England’s coach Roy Hodgson.

Added Lars Lagerback, Iceland joint coach: ‘I would expect England to have more possession, but you never know. It’s very hot. It may depend on the temperature how the match develops. We’ll see if we can step up a bit when it comes to that part of the game.’

The match will be played at the Allianz Riviera, Nice.

Kick-off is at 21:00.

Possible line-ups

England: Joe Hart, Kyle Walker, Chris Smalling, Gary Cahill, Danny Rose; Eric Dier, Wayne Rooney, Dele Alli; Daniel Sturridge, Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling.

Iceland: Hannes Halldorsson, Birkir Saevarsson, Kari Arnason, Ragnar Sigurdsson, Olafur Skulason, Johann Gudmundsson, Carl Gunnarsson, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Birkir Bjarnason, Jon Bodvarsson, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson.