England kicked out of Europe, days after it voted to leave EU

Four days after it voted in a referendum, by a shock 52-48 percent, to leave the European Union, England was unceremoniously booted out on Monday… of the Euro 2016 soccer tournament in France.

In this second shocking Euro exit, the England team was defeated 2-1 in the round of 16 at the European Championship by minnows Iceland, a nation of just 330,000 people that is making its first appearance in a tournament of this stature.

The defeat of the country that introduced football to the world, at the hands of tiny Iceland — some 10 percent of whose population is believed to be in France following its team — is arguably the most humiliating in the history of English football.

England went ahead in the fourth minute when Wayne Rooney scored from the penalty spot after Raheem Sterling was fouled by goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson. But Iceland capitalized on England’s defensive shortcomings, equalizing in the sixth minute when Kari Arnason flicked on a long throw and Ragnar Sigurdsson volleyed in at the back post. Kolbeinn Sigthorsson was then given time and space to shoot from just inside the area in the 18th. England goalkeeper Joe Hart got a hand to the shot but couldn’t keep it out.

The smallest nation ever to appear at a European Championship, Iceland held on through the second half to seal its place in the quarter-finals and send the English team home.

England’s vote Thursday in favor of Brexit — opting out of the 28-member European Union — has plunged the United Kingdom into political and constitutional crisis. Some leaders in Scotland, which voted to stay in the EU, are seeking a means to defy the overall vote, initiate a referendum on leaving the UK, and thus to remain in the European Union. Northern Ireland’s voters also preferred to stay in the EU, as did Londoners, but all were on the losing side of the overall vote for Brexit.

In the wake of Thursday’s referendum, Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation and his Conservative Party must now choose a new leader. Jeremy Corbyn, head of the main opposition Labour Party, is resisting pressure to step down for ostensibly having failed to lobby effectively enough against the Brexit campaign. Numerous members of his party leadership have resigned since the vote, saying they no longer have confidence in his leadership.

For his part, just like Cameron after the Brexit defeat, England’s soccer manager Roy Hodgson announced his resignation less than an hour after the final whistle of Monday night’s ignominious performance in Nice.