Sigurdsson: England thought it would be a walk in the park

Iceland defender Ragnar Sigurdsson claims England thought their round of 16 encounter at the Stade de Nice on Monday would be “a walk in the park”.

England got off to a fine start as Wayne Rooney opened the scoring from the penalty spot early on, only for Sigurdsson to level almost immediately before a Kolbeinn Sigthorsson drive squirmed under Joe Hart to give Iceland a famous victory.

“What mattered is England thought it would be a walk in the park,” Sigurdsson said at a news conference.

“But we had faith in our ability. England started very well, with a lot of power. But they were shocked by the equaliser and then the second goal shortly after.

“They panicked a little bit. They worked hard, but it is not easy to score against Iceland. It went well. We didn’t feel they created any major chances in the second half. We could clear most of their long balls.

“We were never really stressed, apart from the final minutes before the final whistle.”

Iceland now face France in the quarter-finals and Sigurdsson expects a similar game as against England.

“What I expect from France? I expect a good team in the next round,” he added.

“France are maybe similar to England. They have not been playing their best football yet and neither had England. It could be a similar game.

“But we would obviously like to be a bit more dominant.”