Wayne Rooney: 'Roy Hodgson came in and said he's gone and not doing any press - I said he HAD to... that loss was a low moment in my career'

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Former England captain Wayne Rooney has opened up on England’s heartbreak in Euro 2016, saying that the loss to Iceland was a ‘low moment’ in his career

Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard applaud England fans
Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard bowed out of the competition

Wayne Rooney has opened up on England’s horrendous Euro 2016 campaign, where the Three Lions were dumped out the competition by minnows Iceland. 

After coming second in their group, below Wales but ahead of Slovakia and Russia, England advanced to the Round of 16 where they were seeded against the nation.

Despite being huge favourites for the game, the Three Lions put on a poor display and were knocked out of the competition, losing 2-1. 

Iceland, Euro 2016 - Heimir Hallgrimsson

Iceland beat the odds, seeing off England 2-1 to land a place in the quarterfinal (Image credit: Getty Images)

And Rooney, who was speaking on The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet, said that the occasion even got to Roy Hodgson, who didn’t want to face the press after the contest: “After the game was so strange, Roy came in [to the dressing room] and basically said he’s gone and that he’s not doing any press. I remember coming over to you [Gary Neville] and saying that he has to do the press, and eventually he did.

“That game was a low moment. The last 20 minutes were so strange, I was a lot deeper in midfield, and I think we showed ourselves as a young team who were very naive. How many times have we said keep moving the ball side-to-side, we’ll pick up second balls and wear them down? But we were committing forwards too quickly, taking shots from stupid angles, and I never felt that we were going to score in the last 20 minutes, you could feel the game going away from you.

Roy Hodgson watches on

Roy Hodgson did not wish to face the press (Image credit: PA)

“I thought in the games before, we’d played really well – some of the best football we’d played for years with England, then that game was weird, a one-off.

“I scored the penalty early on and I felt we had control, but they got a bit of momentum with throw-ins, set pieces, they get the equaliser, then go 2-1 up and all of a sudden we’re chasing the game. I think they were the worst team to go behind in the tournament.”

The competition did see the dismissal of Hodgson, who left the role before Sam Allardyce came in to take charge of a single match with the Three Lions. 

Iceland eventually came up against France, the host nation, and lost 5-2.

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Jacque Talbot
Jacque Talbot

Jacque Talbot is a freelance football journalist who predominantly specialises in transfer stories and exclusives. He began his career in 2016 covering the world-renowned Sandbach United, of North West Counties fame, before earning a spot on the sports desks of national papers, where he bounced between several outlets such as Sportbible, the Express, Mirror, and Daily Star. An NCTJ graduate of the News Associates who swapped investigative journalism in the Costa del Sol for football reporting in Northern England, he first wrote for FourFourTwo in December 2023.