EURO 2016 – Roy Hodgson resigns after England’s loss to Iceland [Best Tweets]

In what has been one of the greatest upsets in the history of the European Championships, Iceland put on a stunning fightback after going a goal down via a Wayne Rooney penalty.

The Nordic Islanders scored twice in 14 minutes via Ragnar Sigurðsson and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson to destroy England’s hopes of championship glory. England, for all of their possession, could not create any proper chances to score and Iceland held on to their lead till the very end to shock the world and set up a quarterfinal clash against title favourites France.

Roy Hodgson resigns

England manager Roy Hodgson stepped down from his post after 4 years in charge. He led his team into three major tournaments, including the 2014 World Cup, where they finished at them bottom of their group. England got knocked out in the round of 16 stage of their previous European Championship campaign in 2012 as well.

The former Liverpool manager has come under stark criticism for his team selections and tactics over the course of his career as England manager, and the FA released a statement confirming the matter, a part of which read, “We back Roy Hodgson’s decision to step down as England manager and will discuss next steps imminently.”

TOPSHOT - England's coach Roy Hodgson reacts during the Euro 2016 round of 16 football match between England and Iceland at the Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice on June 27, 2016. / AFP / BERTRAND LANGLOIS (Photo credit should read BERTRAND LANGLOIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Hodgson announced his retirement in his post match press conference, saying, “I’m extremely disappointed. We haven’t progressed as far as I thought we were capable of and that’s obviously not acceptable.”

The 68-year-old said that he would have loved to have stayed on for two more years, but he had to be pragmatic, given that this was a results based business. He went on to say, “My contract was up after the Euros. So now is the time for someone else to oversee the progress of this young, hungry and extremely talented group of players.”

He went on to thank the media, his staff and ended his statement by apologising for yet another early exit.

“I’m sorry it’s had to end this way with another exit from a tournament but these things happen and all I can do is wish everybody all the very best and hope that you will still be able to see an England team in a final of a major tournament fairly soon…we’ve been unable to do it. Thank you very much.”

Heimir Hallgrimsson claims Iceland can get even better

Even after pulling off the greatest win in the history of Icelandic football, coach Heimer Hallgrimsson insisted that his side were capable of producing more. According to RTE, he said, “We’ve been improving slowly and, in my opinion this was our best game yet but we still haven’t shown what we can do. Hopefully, our best game is yet to come.”

The 49-year-old insisted that this victory would change the mentality of his side, saying, “Now that they have gone through this hurdle, every obstacle in their way now is going to look smaller. That changes their mentality.”

NICE, FRANCE - JUNE 27: Iceland players celebrate their team's 2-1 win in front of the supporters after the UEFA EURO 2016 round of 16 match between England and Iceland at Allianz Riviera Stadium on June 27, 2016 in Nice, France. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Disgruntled English fans took to Twitter to voice their anger and disappointment at their team’s inability to beat Iceland.

Poor Steve,

Gary Lineker summed up what every England in the world must be feeling like, right now.

Leave Comment

Recommended

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.