Even though the bottom half of the bracket in Euro 2016 is an absolute disaster, England can't feel too bad about the situation it finds itself in. The Three Lions do have a pending match with France likely hanging in the balance, but their opening fixture of the knockout rounds against Iceland should theoretically be a walkover.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
England -185
Iceland +725
Draw +270
Over/Under 2 (under -112)
ODDS ANALYSIS
England has probably underachieved by its own standards thus far in the Euros, but this is a match it really should win. The club is set at -185 on the moneyline and is going to be around a -300 favorite to advance to the last eight. A defeat to France in the quarters would be deemed forgivable, but anything less than that would be a catastrophe for sure for a team which believed it had (and has) a real shot at winning Euro 2016.
Thanks to the stout Iceland defense which has essentially included everyone on the pitch at one time or another, the total in this fixture is set at a flat 2.
TOURNAMENT UPDATE
Kudos to Iceland for the way it got through the group stage. As we learned in Group F, Portugal ended up being a bit of a shockingly bad team, and that opened the door for the Icelanders to end up with five points, including a win against Austria which was procured in stoppage time thanks to Arnor Ingvi Traustason.
England ended the opening stage on the same five points as Iceland, but there was a real air of disappointment when the Brits only mustered a draw against Slovakia to end the group stage. England had just beaten Wales to erase the minor disappointment of drawing against Russia in the opening match, and many figured to just see the Three Lions put three points up against the Slovaks. Instead, they failed, and that left the door open for the Welsh to come barging in to steal the Group B crown and the nice, cushy spot in the top half of the bracket which came with it.
LIVE BETTING
Can England really secure a win in one of these gritty, closed matches where it has to work around a 10-man defense just to get to the target? Iceland isn't going to take any chances whatsoever and try to push this match all the way to penalties if it has to, striking on the counterattack when it gets its chances.
In the opening match against Russia, the Brits looked truly frustrated in a 1-1 draw. They couldn't crack the safe until the 73th minute when Eric Dier scored, and they never did put one through against Slovakia.
Iceland is going to take strength from that for sure, and thanks to the efforts of a strong, organized back line including goalie Hannes Halldorsson, it could end up giving a lot of grief to live bettors of the Three Lions.
QUICK PICK
It would be so England to punt this match. The Icelandic side is perfect to pull off this upset. The team loves to play big time defense and won't care whether it plays sexy soccer or not. The Brits need to get into some space, and when they generally aren't able to do that, they get frustrated and start making rash decisions.
However, we do think Britain is going to get past this one by hook or by crook. As we saw in the opening stage of the competition, there's plenty of talent here to bring off of the bench as well. This might be a fourth straight match without a first half goal for England, but we'll fancy it to find a goal in the second 45, whether that be from Jamie Vardy or maybe even the somewhat forgotten Wayne Rooney.
Euro 2016 Odds: England 1, Iceland 0
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