Sunday, June 26, 2016

Lions vs Minnows

Surprisingly and after sometime we may see two teams lining up in 4-4-2. For England manager Roy Hodgson this is arguably the most important game of his English managerial career considering his contract will not be renewed if he doesn't win the game. But on a positive side England are facing much less difficult opponents due to Portugal only managing a draw in their final game and only finishing 3rd in their group and iceland snatched the runners up spot with an injury time winner. Hodgson had a selection headache in fitting Jamie Vardy and Harry kane together in a line up but he may finally have a chance to do just that. Considering Iceland plays a 4-4-2 under Lars lagerback the former swedish coach : England can play with 2 strikers in Vardy and Kane andplay a midfield diamond behind them with either Deli Alli or ronney at the tip of the diamond. Personally i feel employing Alli at the tip of the diamond is the right choice considering hes been excellent all season for spurs in that position and running can pull strings from midfield with his wide range of passing.

We can almost be sure that Kyle walker and Danny rose will be back in the first team replacing bertrand and Clyne and Smalling and cahill will play in central defense. There was a slot of speculation in the press about Daniel sturridge being preferred instead of vardy but i think Vardy and kane will finally get the chance to play together with sturridge having the previous experience of playing on the wings. England will look to control thegame with Eric dier playing holding midfield with Rooney, Alli and possibly sturridge in front of him in midfield. On the other hand Iceland have been fantastic in this tournament despite being the smallest country in the tournament. 12% of iceland's supporters travelled to france which is astonishing and they will look to counter attack when they have possession. Iceland while are being called minnows by many have some decent players in Swansea city's Gylfi Sigurdsson and Captain Aron Gunnarsson orchestrating the midfield and the prolific Nantes striker Kolbeinn Sigthórsson will look to spark his Euro 2016 into life with a Goal. Arnór Ingvi Traustason has the distinction of being the top assist maker in the swedish league and will be one player to watch against england.Ragnar Sigurdsson will lead the defense against england but he and his men will have a hard job against england. While iceland has had an inspirational tournament by all means not winning this game will be a major disaster for England after the promising qualifying campaign they have had winning all their games. This and as an England supporter i expect England will go through to the quarterfinals with a win.

Prediction : England 3-0

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