Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle -and Betty MacDonald fan club fans,
many greetings from International Betty MacDonald fan club event 2016 in France.
France 5-2 Iceland: Olivier Giroud scores twice as Euro 2016 hosts cruise to victory to set up mouthwatering semi-final with Germany
- Olivier Giroud fired France ahead on 12 minutes after an assist from Blaise Matuidi against Iceland
- Paul Pogba doubled the Euro 2016 hosts' lead on 19 minutes with a bullet header from Antoine Griezmann's corner
- France made it 3-0 before half-time when Dimitri Payet drilled home from outside the box with his left foot
- Griezmann added a fourth with a sumptuous chip to give Didier Deschamps' side a 4-0 lead at the break
- Kolbeinn Sigthorsson pulled one back for Iceland on 56 minutes but Giroud grabbed his second three minutes later
- Birkir Bjarnason grabbed Iceland's second goal at the Stade de France with a consolation header late on
- CLICK HERE to re-live all the action from the Stade de France as it happened during Sunday's quarter-final
This will have made for uncomfortable viewing in Iceland and won't have been an awful lot better for the English.
Iceland,
the conquerors of Roy Hodgson's team in the last 16, fell to earth here
in Paris and even their fanatical supporters couldn't save them.
The
fans kept going to the end, their unique formation clapping still
ringing around the Stade de France long after the teams had left the
field. Earlier, the French supporters had joined in too.
Olivier Giroud wheels away in celebration after giving France an early lead against Iceland during their Euro 2016 quarter-final
The 29-year-old fired the tournament hosts ahead with this left-footed strike on 12 minutes to give France a perfect start
Giroud watches on as his low powerful
strike flies through the legs of Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson
to break the deadlock
France's No 9 slides on his knees and points to the heavens after giving his country the lead as they dominated against Iceland
He was quickly joined by his ecstatic team-mates as they ran over to congratulate him on scoring the opening goal
But
for the Iceland team this proved to be a step too far. Here they faced a
French side occasionally uncomfortable against their direct play but on
the whole far too streetwise and clinical for a nation that arrived in
this country four weeks ago with no football pedigree whatsoever.
Four
down at half time, we feared for Iceland. Nobody wanted their adventure
to end on a hiding. In the end that didn't happen and Iceland can even
say they 'won' the second half 2-1.
But
it was impossible to look at this game and the way France unpicked the
Iceland defence without asking once again just how on earth England
managed to lose to Lars Lagerback's limited team a week ago in Nice.
For
all their prowess at set pieces, for example, Iceland actually proved
vulnerable to them here. France scored from two and didn't have to work
that hard in either instance.
Maybe
England could have profited in a similar fashion - but to score from
set pieces you do have to be able to keep the delivery on the field in
the first place.
So
Iceland head for home with a bag full of memories and goodwill and
France roll on to a semi-final with Germany in Marseille on Thursday.
Some occasion that will be.
Encouragingly
for France, they seem to be improving. Here, on a soaking wet Paris
night, Didier Deschamps' team scored their only first-half goals of Euro
2016 so far. Happily for them there were four.
Their key players are either maintaining or running in to form.
West
Ham's Dimitri Payet continues to be France's go-to man for clever play
but now he has players around him like Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba and
Olivier Giroud who are contributing with confident football of their
own.
All
four men scored in the opening 45 minutes last night and between them
they made sure Iceland never got a foothold in the game like they did
against England.
Lagerback's team actually started quite well.
Swansea's
Gylfi Sigurdsson engineered a shooting position to test Hugo Lloris
early on before Johann Gudmundsson failed to control a lofted pass that
threatened to send him clear on goal.
However, Iceland were soon undone by a basic piece of French football which set the tone for the rest of the night.
In
gaining a draw against Portugal and a win against England, Iceland had
defended with organisation and composure. Here they couldn't manage it
and the way Giroud was able to run clear on to Blaise Matuidi's long
pass, then drive the first goal between the goalkeeper's legs with his
left foot was indicative of the problem.
Giroud
finished the move well. It was a true shot. But Iceland's offside trap
let them down and from that point the game was taken away from the
visitors.
Seven minutes after Giroud had opened
the scoring, France doubled their lead courtesy of Paul Pogba, who has
grown into the tournament
The powerful midfielder rose the highest from an Antoine Griezmann corner to beat the zonal marking of Iceland and head home
The 23-year-old's effort proved too
much for keeper Halldorsson and Birkir Saevarsson, defending on the
line, to nestle inside the far post
The Manchester United target marked the goal his strike in his customary manner by showing off his 'dab' celebration
France's No 15 was mobbed by his team-mates as the majority of the Stade de France celebrated the hosts' second goal wildly
Before half-time France added a third
with this strike from Dimitri Payet - a third goal in the tournament for
the West Ham midfielder
The delightful playmaker managed to
fire his low left-footed strike past three Icelandic attempted blocks
and into the far corner
Payet's drive also proved too good Halldorsson who dived to his left to no avail as the ball found the bottom corner
The 29-year-old slides on his knees as France continued to rack up the goals in a dominant first-half display
Payet's left foot was kissed by
Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann who was impressed by his
team-mates finish on his weaker side
With seconds left of half-time Griezmann too found himself on the scoresheet to compound Iceland's misery and make it 4-0
The forward beautifully chipped Halldorsson when played through on goal in the closing moments of the first period in Paris
The 25-year-old Atletico star promptly
slides across the Stade de France turf on his front as France's
destruction of Iceland continued
Johann Gudmundsson was deep in his thoughts following Griezmann's strike as Iceland faced a daunting challenge at half-time
Pogba's
goal will also have disappointed Lagerback as the midfielder leapt
above Jon Dadi Bodvarsson to crash Griezmann's corner home with his
forehead.
It was a leap of immense power, though, and a reminder of just how athletic the 23-year-old midfielder can be.
Briefly,
Iceland rallied. A throw-in from the right worried a French defence
that featured debutant Samuel Umtiti but Bodvarsson could not profit.
Then a free-kick from deep was fumbled by Lloris as the ball arrived
through a mass of bodies.
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Theoretically, at least, Iceland were still in the game, but they weren't for long.
Payet's
low, left-foot shot into the corner from 18 yards in the 43rd minute
looked quite simple but replays showed the clever way the French
playmaker had shifted the ball out of his feet to make the angle.
Almost
immediately, the Iceland defence lost its focus once again as a low
ball from the back passed beneath Giroud's attempt to flick it on and
was allowed to run clear for Griezmann to lift it over goalkeeper Hannes
Halldorsson and into the net.
However, for Gudmundsson and his Iceland team-mates there was a glimmer of hope after half-time when Kolbeinn Sigthorsson scored
Sigthorsson nipped in front of the French defence to pullone back for England's last-16 conquerors with this close-range finish
Sigthorsson watches on as his finish beats France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to reduce the scoreline to 4-1 on 56 minutes
And the Iceland striker's finish was a
moment their fans won't forget after they had travelled to support
their team in vast numbers
It
was a lovely finish from the Atletico Madrid forward and told of current
form and confidence. But from an Iceland point of view, it made for
pretty grim viewing.
Four down at half time, this was virgin territory for them.
As it was, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson beat Umtiti at the near post to score Iceland's first early in the second half.
Near
the end, former Chelsea forward Eidur Gudjohnsen came on to play his
part in a move that allowed Birkir Bjarnason to head a second Iceland
goal past Lloris from six yards.
In between, however, they conceded another bad one.
Three minutes later though, France were celebrating once more when Giroud scored his second, and their fifth goal of the night
The powerful striker headed home a
Payet free-kick - despite the presence of two Iceland challenges,
getting in front of keeper Halldorsson
Giroud watches on as his effort
nestles into an empty net with Halldorsson, not for the first time on
the night, caught in No Man's Land
Iceland's players look at each other
quizzically as their dreams of a Euro 2016 semi-final spot evaporate at
the hands of the hosts
Giroud receives a word in the ear from Didier Deschamps after an impressive display leading the line for the tournament hosts
Payet's
free-kick from 40 yards was stuck more with hope than judgement but
Giroud rose easily to head it beyond a goalkeeper who had advanced
rashly from his line.
Iceland
captain Aaron Gunnarsson said afterwards: 'The first half was terrible
but we managed to play better after the break. We decided we could not
leave like that. We will learn from this. We are just starting.'
It is to be hoped that we do hear from Iceland again.
Certainly nobody in England will ever forget them. As for France, their own dreams live on in this competition.
'Germany
are world champions and they are favourites on Thursday,' said Giroud.
'But we are determined. We'd like to write another chapter in French
football history.'
With six minutes remaining on Sunday evening, midfielder Birkir Bjarnason grabbed Iceland's second goal at the Stade de France
Bjarnason, who scored Iceland's goal
in their memorable 1-1 group stage draw with Portugal, is congratulated
after scoring late on
France- Germany will be dire.Germany to win on penalties after a 0-0 draw.Portugal will beat Wales 3-0.
John Terry must be scared until his nu t sac are empty
Iceland
are going home with their head held high. This is a team that showed
it's not the net worth of the team, nor the size of the nation that
matters, but how much heart, passion and determination a team that
matters. In my eyes, these guys are winners regardless. I hope that
Wales can make them, and every underdog out there, proud on Wednesday,
and dream of dreams, god forbid, next Sunday. Whatever happens on
Wednesday though, I'll be proud of our lads.
Credit
to Iceland even when the game was completely lost they kept on fighting
had it been England they would have already been on the bus home at 3-0
down.
My
thoughts on yesterday's game.
I'm really proud of my national team's achievements, they fought hard
but not having enough width in their squad ultimately did them harm, we
had the same starting XI for 5 games.
The French team was just way to good yesterday, really talented team.
Nobody I've spoken to this morning thought the French players were
disrespectful. The future is ours, we got really promising youngsters
who are on their way up to the first team, most of our current national
team players are in their late 20's so they have enough gas on the tank
and with all that money we got for competing in the Euro, a lot of it
will go into development of young kids, both boys and girls.
Now it's the qualification group for World Cup in Russia and our women's
team is playing in the women's Euro in Holland next summer :)
I'm cheering for Wales now by the way :)
I
agree with an earlier post. Iceland can go home holding their heads
high, knowing they did their best and played with passion, eloquence and
above all, dignity. They have nothing to be ashamed for, they are truly
champions. England on the other hand slunk home with their heads bowed
in shame. They did not perform when it mattered. They played with
arrogance and disrespect. Above all, they showed that they are not that
good, whatever the 'pundits and media' say. They have everything to be
ashamed for.
A newspaper in Albania called Iceland : Cinderella of Euro 2016
It
was interesting the way the BBC were waxing lyrical about Iceland and
Wales, two teams that contained several Championship players from a
division that the BBC does its best to ignore for a large part of the
season. There's something slightly hypocritical about their
presentation.
I
don't think the England players really wanted to play against Iceland
their minds were on the beach and they were already gutted they got out
of the group stage as they really wanted to go out earlier for the
beach.
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