Reykjavik (AFP)

Saved in extremis by Raheem Sterling, England started the Nations League with a difficult victory on Saturday in Reykjavik (0-1) against Iceland, the team which had eliminated it from Euro-2016.

More than four years have passed since what was considered the worst defeat in the history of the English selection in the round of 16 of the Euro in France (2-1).

On Saturday, the English did not completely evacuate their demons since they had to wait for additional time to find the fault and win (1-0).

The difference was made thanks to a penalty from Raheem Sterling obtained following a strike stopped with both arms by defender Sverrir Ingason (90 + 1)

The English victory was in the image of this penalty, drawn softly flush with the ground in the center.

The Icelanders could even have equalized in stride but Birkir Bjarnason missed his penalty.

- Ten against eleven -

The selection of Gareth Southgate could have afforded a much quieter afternoon if Harry Kane had not seen a goal refused for an offside far from obvious at the start of the match (6th).

The English were dangerous twice in the next few minutes (Kyle Walker in the 9th minute, Declan Rice in the 17th), but gradually got bogged down.

They even let the Icelanders allow themselves a few incursions.

The worst-case scenario emerged in the second half, as the English played twenty minutes ten to eleven after the exclusion of Kyle Walker for two yellow cards and their domination was completely unproductive in the second half.

Only four Three Lions players (Dier, Walker, Sterling and Kane) were already on the pitch four years ago, but the setup looked a lot like Euro-2016, with a double curtain and discipline from all of them. moments on the Icelandic side.

Young Manchester United winger Mason Greenwood entered the game in the 78th minute was too late to be decisive.

Semi-finalist of the 2018 World Cup, and used to scoring a lot of goals in the Euro-2020 qualifying campaign (37 in eight matches), the English team believed they had recovered perfectly from the nightmare of 2016. Even if this trip was the first official game of the season, with differences in physical freshness between some players, a draw would have been really messy.

Tuesday night's trip to Copenhagen, against Denmark, will be a tougher test, but perhaps also easier to tackle psychologically.

© 2020 AFP