Bye Bye Iceland; Hosts signal alarms for Germans after 5-2 showdown

by Ritesh Ranjan
Ritesh Ranjan
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In a match which was seen as no-match on comparison, resulted in a no- match on the field too; with Iceland thumped down to a 5-2 rout, signaling end of fairy tale journey of the minnows. This was it for Iceland at the 2016 version of UEFA Euro, a team which stunned the English side the other day, coming from behind to score a 2-1 win over them.

France surged into the semifinals of the tournament and will face the Germans in the semifinals.

Earlier, Giroud scored a brace while Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann scored once to tally up 5 goals for France routing Iceland which could score only two with Kolbeinn Sigthorsson and Birkir Bjarnason scoring for them.

The Sunday at Stade de France went on merrily for everyone before the match; into the match, however, everything was merrier for fans of Didier Deschamps’ side. France started the match aggressively, hinting at what was coming in during the match; however it was goal opportunity set up by Matuidi in the 12th minute encashed by Giroud making the scoreboard go live for the first time.
It then was a matter of time, as the French side scored three more before going for a break at the half time. In the match against England, Iceland responded almost immediately after falling behind, but the home side neither allowed them a chance back, nor kept the scoreboard still with just one goal as the advantage was doubled eight minutes later through Pogba’s towering header.The midfielder has been criticized for his performances at the tournament, but Sunday was a day to put a stop to all his criticism and his header did the talking just at the day it mattered.

Coming back from the break, the fairy tale riders tried to infuse some confidence in their ranks with a Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s close-range finish, but the second one from Giroud just then smothered any possibilities of a comeback in the match. Iceland, though tried to decrease the goal deficit and that was only once thereafter that they made and inroad to the French goal.

In the semifinals of the Euro 2016, France will face the World Champions at Marseille on Thursday.