England hit a new low with meltdown in Nice

Where do England go from here, apart from home, of course? 

Even by England’s standards this was a new low. We’ve all been here before of course. The false optimism, followed by the false start and then the full stop, as a nation’s hopes end in crushing defeat, usually around the quarter-final stage.

But they haven’t even got that far this time, beaten by a team from a country with a population the same as that of Leicester. And in the spirit of Leicester City, Iceland showed the so-called big boys how it should be done.

No respecters of reputation, they were a well-drilled team with a plan and prepared to play to their strengths. They didn’t come to Nice to defend with 10 men behind the ball, as some predicted, because they saw that England were there for the taking. And how they took England apart, giving their joyous band of fans another unbelievable story to recount.

Even after the early setback of a penalty, they refused to believe it would not be their day and promptly equalised, fittingly from a well-worked set piece. The winning goal was beautifully constructed too.

Roy Hodgson has never been the most inspiring figure in the dug-out, but those in the know say he prepares his teams in the most minute of details. It did not look that way. Once again England looked like they were making it up as they went along, with little shape or purpose about their gameplan.

Hodgson was not helped by some of his senior men letting him down, too. Joe Hart made another bad mistake, failing to hold Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s shot that trickled over the line to put Iceland ahead. There were shades of Robert Green letting Clint Dempsey’s shot dribble past him in South Africa six years.

Rooney is arguably the bigger problem, though. The captain is deemed undroppable, so Hodgson has to accommodate him. He has been moved back from attack because he is no longer worth picking as a forward, and increasingly he looks out of his depth in midfield. Where else is there for him to go, except for the retirement home?

He doesn’t have the creativity needed to play in the position he occupies, nor does he have the legs to get up and down the pitch.

But what about all the bright young things who were going to bring their dynamic club form to the England set-up. Harry Kane looks a shadow of the striker who managed 30 goals for the second year running and was the Premier League’s top scorer. Perhaps it is fatigue from a long season playing up front for Tottenham on his own; perhaps his confidence has suffered from being moved left, right, and to the subs’ bench by Hodgson. Raheem Sterling had another game to forget, Dele Alli only showed flashes of his brilliance, Jack Wilshere was unable to change things when he went on at half-time.

England’s best performance in recent years was their 3-2 win in Berlin earlier this year, when Hodgson borrowed heavily on Mauricio Pochettino’s players and plans to play the Tottenham way — high energy, high pressing, and fast movement of the ball. That team did not have Rooney, who was injured, and they subsequently had a more dynamic flow from back to front. Too often Rooney slows the play, or even worse gives the ball away in key areas. There were times last night when he stumbled and stuttered, looking like time has finally caught up with playing at the highest level.

But let’s not forget about Iceland’s part in this. Normally the English love an underdog, but they can’t have enjoyed watching this humiliation. The millions watching on TV and the huge following in the Stade de Nice vastly outnumbered their Icelandic counterparts, but all the noise was coming from the small corner of the stadium where their 3,500 or so fans loved every minute of it. And so must the neutrals.

Iceland have had big results before, of course, beating the Dutch twice in qualifying. But nothing will match knocking England out of a major tournament. They will be remembered for this result for ever — and so will this England team, for all the wrong reasons.

England’s long-suffering fans have had to endure some miserable times over the years, but this was a new low.

For Iceland, a quarter-final with France in Paris on Sunday is the next step on their journey — and who is to say they won’t keep the dream alive? After a season of shocks and surprises, what next?