Iceland joint-coach Heimir Hallgrimsson has insisted that he wouldn’t want to be Roy Hodgson if England lose to his side on Monday night.
The two nations clash in the last-16 of the European Championship in Nice, with England undoubtedly the heavy favourites to prevail and advance to the next round.
However, having struggled for goals in the first three games of the tournament and with Iceland likely to prove to be a stubborn side to break down, it could be a tense and anxious night for Hodgson and his men.
Hallgrimsson has added to that theory, while Iceland coach Lars Lagerback has also insisted that it would be tough for his counterpart to continue in his current position if Iceland were to dump England out.
“I wouldn’t want to be Roy Hodgson if he lost to Iceland,” Hallgrimmsson said, as reported by The Times.
Lagerback, a long-time friend of Hodgson, added: “That’s reality in football today. If you lose and you’re not playing well enough there’s always a risk you’ll get the sack, especially if there are high expectations — and in England you always have big expectations for the national team. Maybe sometimes too high.
“But it’s not difficult for me to think that Roy could be sacked if we win. You go into a game and even if you know the other coach, or you had 10 years together in another team, you always want to win.”
The odds are firmly stacked against Iceland, although they have already upset predictions once by making it out of a group containing Portugal, Hungary and Austria.
In turn, they will look to continue to feed off their belief and confidence as well as hope to put the pressure firmly on England during the game as Hodgson’s men continue to search for their best form.
Given the expectations, coupled with Hodgson failing to get them out of the group stage at the 2014 World Cup, he knows better than anyone else that he has to deliver this summer if he harbours hopes of continuing as England boss beyond this summer.