England vs Iceland Euro 2016 reaction: 'They thought this would be a walk in the park,' says Ragnar Sigurdsson

If the result was not painful enough, the way Iceland’s footballers talked about their victory merely added to England’s humiliation. Ragnar Sigurdsson, who scored the equaliser and then defended magnificently in the 2-1 win, accused England of fatally underestimating his team.

The Iceland co-manager, Heimir Halgrimsson, said he was more nervous when beating Austria in the final group game than in this match against some of the highest paid and most underperforming players on the planet.

"They thought this would be a walk in the park but we had faith in our ability,” said Sigurdsson, a 30-year-old defender who plays for Krasnodar in Russia. “We didn’t feel that they created any chances, we were just heading away long balls. I wasn’t really stressed in the second half. The key moment was when we scored. I don’t think they really recovered from that. They did not have their best game but nor did we.”

Halgrimsson, who works as a part-time dentist in the Westmann Islands, off Iceland’s southern coast, said England had produced very little of substance. “I was more relaxed against England than I was during the game against Austria,” he said. “If you had told me a few years ago that Iceland would reach the last eight, I have to say I would not have believed you.

"Some people think that as a race Icelandic people are too optimistic but to succeed you have to be ready when the opportunity comes and we were ready and we now have a game we will talk about for the rest of our lives.

"We are coloured by our love of English football so this game will probably mean more than the quarter-final with France because we have been watching English football since we were little. Every obstacle will look smaller after this game.

open image in gallery

“England did not cause us very many problems and we had a lot of good chances. Their game-plan was probably to shut us off quickly and when they scored early on they must have believed they had done that. They were surprised we recovered so quickly."

However, Hallgrimsson’s co-manager, Lars Lagerback, who had worked under the now-former England manager, when Roy Hodgson made his name in Sweden with Malmo paid a generous tribute. “I want to say that Roy Hodgson is one of the reasons I am sitting here. He changed coaching methods and football education in Sweden and with the joy there is some sadness. I want to pay my respects to a really, really good coach.”