UEFA Nations League - Watch Iceland vs England in over 150 countries

September 2, 2020 By Oscar Rojas

Topics: UEFA Nations League, Iceland, England, TV Schedules, TV Listings

The third-placed team of the previous Nations League will try to improve their finish, but they will need to kick things off with a win against the Icelandic side.

How did Iceland and England's previous UEFA Nations League campaign end?

Iceland finished in last place of Group 2 of the A League in the 2018-19 UNL, losing all their games against Switzerland and Belgium. The Icelandic side was supposed to be relegated to League B, but the format change to the competition allowed them to stay in League A.

England won Group A4 over Spain and Croatia and progressed to the tournament's final four stage. There, the Three Lions lost their semi-final clash against the Netherlands with a 3-1 score, but their run in the competition found some consolation with their 6-5 win against Switzerland in a nerve-wracking penalty shootout.

What is Iceland and England's form ahead of this match?

Iceland was one of the few teams that was capable of playing friendly games before the coronavirus outbreak. Erik Hamren's men defeated El Salvador and Canada with similar 1-0 scores in a couple of friendly games that took place in January. Before that, the Icelandic side had won three out of their last four games, with their only loss during that run coming against France, who defeated them with a one-nil score on October 11, 2019.

This will be England's first game in 2020. The Three Lions had to cancel four friendly matches that were supposed to take place in March and June, but the coronavirus pandemic prevented them from taking place. Before that, Southgate's men had won five out of their last six games, scoring a whopping 27 goals and conceding only five. Their only loss came on October 11, 2019 against the Czech Republic (2-1).

Iceland vs England - Who's in and who's out?

Iceland's boss Erik Hamren has chosen to leave some of the national team's biggest names out, such as Gylfi Sigurdsson, Aron Gunnarsson, and Alfred Finnbogason. Instead, Hamren has called up some interesting newcomers such as Holmbert Fridjonsson, Andri Baldursson, and Brentford goalkeeper Patrik Gunnarsson.

On the other side of the pitch, coach Gareth Southgate called up the best possible squad for their first game of 2020. Nonetheless, the Three Lions' boss decided to leave Marcus Rashford, Harry Winks, and Ben Chilwell out of the squad. Added to those names, Southgate dropped Harry Maguire from the squad due to his recent incident in Greece, England's tactician decided to fill those voids with Mason Greenwood, Jack Grealish, and Conor Coady.

Iceland vs England - Head-to-head

This will be the fourth match ever between these teams.
The last competitive game between these teams took place in the 2016 UEFA Euro. Iceland took the win with a 2-1 score.
England's only visit to Iceland's capital concluded with a one-all draw back in 1982.
The Three Lions have only won once against Iceland, but they did so emphatically with a 6-1 score back in 2004.