Olivier Giroud impressed as France blew Iceland away.
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There were welcome goals from Kolbeinn Sigthorsson and Birkir Bjarnason to restore a measure of Icelandic pride but Swansea City midfielder Sigurdsson reflected on a supreme first-half showing from the hosts, who now face the prospect of a mouthwatering semi-final against world champions Germany in Marseille on Thursday.
A header from Mats Hummels knocked France out in the quarter-final in Rio de Janeiro two years ago and Germany went on to win their fourth global crown.
A true fighter, if not an artist, Giroud had an extra problem with the French fans, many of whom felt he had been picked only because Karim Benzema, facing a ban because of his involvement in an alleged blackmail scandal, was left out.
“You can always discuss that the tournament is too long with the best players playing a long season, but the PR guaranteed by these matches is really good for football”.
France had not scored a first-half goal at Euro 2016 before this game, but became the first side in European Championships history to score four times before the break with Giroud’s 12th-minute opener proving the catalyst for a simply stunning display.
“I am very proud of what this side is achieving and I hope that once again we will come up with the right result”.
In contrast to France’s straightforward passage, Germany were given a severe test in their quarter-final. At the end of a rather miserable night for them, the game was not won but respect sure was!
Mats Hummels is unavailable due to suspension, Mario Gomez is out of action due to injury, while Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira are both doubtful.
And for Iceland, the money generated by the tournament will serve the country well in helping to ensure this was not a flash-in-the-pan effort, with Lagerback predicting a bright future for the national team. But we are there, in the final four, and we will give our all against the best team not only in Europe, but the world. While the team lost 5-2 to France on Sunday, they still returned home to a hero’s welcome in Reykjavik.
“But it won’t be a stroll in the park for them”.
“We have had a habit of starting matches badly, but we were able to change that”.
He finished with 74 touches but Iceland worked hard to ensure Payet was not allowed to cut inside and therefore restricted his threat as much as they could, despite his first-half strike.
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Giroud scored a brace as Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann also got on the scoresheet, which helped them thrash Iceland and book a place in the semi-finals.
