ICELAND.
For those of you making Game of Thrones "winter is coming" jokes, you are well intentioned — and we appreciate your intentions — but you are off base.
Winter is here, y'all.
Yes, Iceland, little Iceland, beat England, 2-1. Surely you know the statistics by now: 325,000 population, eight percent of which has shown up in France for Euro 2016.
When Arsenal triggered Jamie Vardy’s £20 million release clause on June 3, it was easy to envision the beginning of the end for the Leicester City fairytale.
They’d just won the Premier League title, something Arsenal haven’t managed for 12 years, and qualified for the 2016-17 Champions League, but surely the uncertainty surrounding Leicester’s ability to do it all again come August could’ve majorly influenced Vardy.
Fans of uninteresting 0-0 draws must have been delighted at Slovakia vs. England Monday, because it set the standard for uninteresting 0-0 draws. Slovakia fans also probably enjoyed it, because the result means the Slovaks are likely through to the knockout stage.
Unbiased observers (really, if you're an unbiased observer, why would you watch this game?) took naps, while England fans and Martin Skrtel haters — a lot of overlap in that group — were not thrilled about the game.
Sometimes, when two countries with such rich, intertwined histories as England and Wales compete on the biggest stages in sports, feels are felt. One sad Wales fan was caught on camera during Wales's crushing loss to England and he was feeling some serious feels.
He was feeling all the feels.
It was all so close to going gloriously, pathetically, predictably wrong for England. They put in a first half against Wales that was reminiscent of everything that England had ever done wrong in the past: there was talent on the field, more talent than the opposition, but England not only couldn’t get ahead, they found themselves behind. When Gareth Bale sent in his deep, deep free-kick past Joe hart, who maybe should have done better, it seemed like history was doomed to repeat itself.
Go ahead and draw conclusions about what this means with regards to England, but Russia will be the worst nation to ever host a World Cup. South Africa, the only host nation to ever fail to advance from the World Cup group stage, at least gave us the entertainment value of Siphiwe Tshabalala, Steven Pienaar and the vuvuzela.
It's a hard life for an England fan. As the England National Team gear up for another go at a European Championship, most fans can't help but remember the heartbreak and tears of past attempts.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic had already planted himself as one of the all time greats, but moments like these showed the world how truly special he was. It is impossible to forget the goal he scored against France in 2012. He sent an acrobatic blast past Hugo Lloris in the 53rd minute which led to mayhem in Kiev. As Sweeden would go on to win the game 2-0, this goal of the tournament would never be forgotten. We are hoping to see epic golazos from the legend in this years Euro Championships!
As the moments of desperation evolved, goalkeeper Jamie Butler scored an incredible full field laser to even the game at two goals a piece. Following a favorable skip from right outside the 18 yardbox, the ball found it's way into the upper left corner out of reach from the opposing goalie. Crazy moments like these are why we love the game!
Wayne Rooney put in a Man of the Match performance as Manchester United brushed aside Bournemouth 3-1 at Old Trafford. Rooney opened up the scoring in the 43rd minute after some lovely team play between Anthony Martial and Juan Mata on the edge of the box.
The goal was Rooney's 100th in the Premier League at Old Trafford, and the OptaJoe Twitter account was quick to highlight the relevance of that.
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