England will face Iceland in a Euro 2016 round of 16 soccer match in Nice on Monday, June 27.
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At first Harry Kane seemed to be as dazzled by the statistics as everyone else.
England captain Wayne Rooney refused to reveal whether or not he had voted in the referendum when he was asked about it on Thursday.
Now, they’re trying to eliminate them.
Should England beat Iceland they’d go into the quarter-finals awaiting either France or the Republic of Ireland.
Elimination would be an embarrassment, and surely cost Roy Hodgson his job.
“I’m not exhausted”, he said.
“He is an incredible player, especially with the amount of goals he has scored for England”. Despite their dominance and the fact they have had the most attempts at goal of any team at the tournament (64), more than half have been from outside the penalty area.
Kane, after 119 games in two seasons for club, senior and junior national sides, is not alone in having failed to illuminate these finals so far.
But that’s about the scale of the similarities.
Players like Stuart Pearce, Chris Waddle, Gareth Southgate and David Batty are as well known for missing penalties for England than anything else they achieved in their careers.
The team is staying grounded, and even the wildly joyous commentator on Icelandic TV prompted no more than casual recognition among the players.
“We’re not scoring as many goals as we’d like”, Kane continued.
Iceland has surprised spectators in France and delighted the 330,000-strong population back home with a series of efficient and muscular performances.
“It’s six times I’ve played them, and so far I haven’t lost”, said Lagerback, jumping in to proudly correct his inquisitor.
In the last 10 years, England has won just one game in the knockout stage of a major competition – against Ecuador in the last 16 of the 2006 World Cup.
Despite routinely qualifying well and usually progressing through the group stage of major tournaments, England’s record once things get serious is shocking in comparison with other big guns of the sport. “We can always hope for it and of course we have a chance”.
Hodgson suggested last week the public may not see the best of his side until they were involved in a more open game, but Kane backed his colleagues to find a way through.
While Iceland represent an easier opponent on paper than Portugal, and are 26 places lower in the Federation Internationale de Football Association rankings, they are likely to present another defence-minded opponent.
They won’t if Iceland pulls off another stunning result.
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If he took time to reflect on the two and a half hours of football he has played to datein France, had a single clear-cut opportunity actually fallen Kane’s way?
