Chelsea FC’s Gary Cahill hopes to face an offense-oriented team in the knockout stages of Euro 2016. Iceland will not be that team, and they will pose their own set of challenges for the offense-deficient Three Lions.
Chelsea centerback and England vice-captain Gary Cahill will lead the Three Lions against Iceland on Saturday in the Round of 16 of Euro 2016. Speaking yesterday after Iceland secured their spot against England with a historic 2-1 victory over Austria, Cahill sounded as though he was not too well-versed on his upcoming opponents. Or his own side’s performances, for that matter.
Cahill looks forward to taking on a more offensive-oriented opponent than those England faced in the group stages. England enjoyed greater than 50% possession in each group stage game, including 70% against Wales. “You want a team to come out and play against you a bit more,” Cahill said.
Iceland is not going to be that team. Iceland’s possession ranged from 28-31% in their three group stage matches. Iceland only maintained the ball in their opponents’ third of the field 21% of the time, on average.
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England did little with its overwhelming advantage in possession and maintaining the ball out of their defensive third. Despite dominating possession against Wales, the game was a 1-1 stalemate until the third minute of stoppage time.
Iceland’s winning goal against Austria should particularly concern Cahill and England. Austria needed a win to keep their hopes alive, leading them to play all their defenders in Iceland’s half during stoppage time. A quick outlet pass popped to midfield was all it took to unleash Teddy Bjarnason on a run down the right side. Bjarnason attracted all of the frantically recovering Austria defenders, leaving Arnor Taustason open six yards in front of the net for the winner.
(Turn your sound on now, thank us later.)
Iceland’s lightning counter-attack was straight out of Leicester City’s 2015/16 playbook. What Taustason and Bjarnason did on Wednesday was what Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy did all season to the likes of Gary Cahill, Chris Smalling and Ryan Bertrand.
Roy Hodgson, call your office.
Cahill acknowledged that England has lacked the necessary finishing touch, resulting in only three goals and one win out of a weak group. England had five shots on goal in each group stage game, coming from an average of 21 attempts. Iceland, on the other hand, has made the most of their limited opportunities. Iceland mustered a total of 23 shots through the group stages, but converted four times off of nine shots on goal.
"“[W]e’ve had the majority of chances and the stats show that we should be winning the games… The positives are all there. We are going out there on the front foot and taking the game to them. [I]n the next game we should go out there and do something similar.”"
Daniel Sturridge has been England’s most capable offensive player, bagging the late winner against Wales and leading the team in shots per game. However, Roy Hodgson has limited Sturridge’s playing time to 121 minutes across two matches. Sturridge came on as a half-time substitute against Wales, and started against Slovakia before coming off in the 76th minute. Jamie Vardy only has one goal, and Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Adam Lallana have been non-factors in England’s offense.
The Top Flight
England’s opposite number brings all the momentum. Euro 2016 is Iceland’s first international tournament. In quick order they scored their first goal, shut down Cristiano Ronaldo en route to a draw with Portugal, won their first match and advanced for the first time. Iceland has exceeded expectations and will play with nothing to lose. They will have the support of neutral fans worldwide, adding their voices to the 8% of Iceland’s population in attendance at the tournament.
Among the squad, Arnor Taustason is on a hot streak, having scored four goals in the last five games for Iceland, including the winning goal against Austria. Gylfi Sigurdsson’s 2.7 shots per game is higher than everyone on England’s squad except for Sturridge and Eric Dier, and equals Wayne Rooney’s output.
Players should be confident in taking the measure of upcoming games, particularly leaders like Gary Cahill. Few expect players to provide more than bland statements of enthusiasm, respect for the opponent and superficial assessments of what is to come. In those regards, Cahill’s statements are nothing out of the ordinary.
However, Roy Hodgson’s lineups, tactics and substitutions have already left many England watchers puzzled, questioning both his ambition to win and his ability to do so. Cahill’s comments reinforce suspicions that England’s management is inadequately preparing the squad for the task ahead.
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If the vice-captain thinks that England thrives against on-rushing teams, and that Iceland will be just such an opponent, one wonders what the English squad is talking about during video sessions and strategy preparations.
All stats via whoscored.com