Euro 2016: Wales celebrate Iceland goal as England crash out of tournament after embarrassing defeat

Wales players including Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey gathered to watch England crash out of Euro 2016

Jack de Menezes
Tuesday 28 June 2016 06:55 EDT
Comments
Wales players celebrate Iceland's win over England

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

While the nation is in mourning at yet another major tournament heartbreak, not everyone was disappointed with England’s Euro 2016 elimination at the hands of Iceland.

The Wales squad, who have already booked their place in the quarter-finals where they take on Belgium, gathered to watch the final last-16 encounter in France and despite a number of their club-mates representing the Three Lions, they were clearly in the Iceland camp.

It was no surprise then that the players went absolutely crazy when Iceland scored against England, paving the way to one of the greatest upsets in football history and sending Wales’s rivals home long before the tournament reaches its climax.

A video posted by Capital FM Radio host Polly James captured the Welsh squad watching the match on a projector in their team hotel, the moment Iceland defender Ragnar Sigurdsson nudged in the equaliser for Iceland.

Welsh stars such as Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey, Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale and Liverpool’s Joe Allen can be spotted leaping up and down while grabbing one and other, with the defeat they suffered to England in the group stages had been well an truly forgotten by England’s exit.

However, James went on to delete the video from her Twitter account after receiving a torrent of abuse from angry English fans, and she explained in a second post why she chose to take it down.

“Was called EVERYTHING under the sun after posting that video! Its a GAME, chill out! I'm not a c**t & of course Wales will cheer for #Ice!” wrote James.

Wales take on Belgium on Friday in the second of the four quarter-finals, with a potential semi-final against either Portugal or Poland on the line for the victors.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in