Iceland tightrope awaits under-fire England

ON paper, having England square off against Iceland on a football pitch looks like a complete mismatch.

The Three Lions, a former World Cup winner, are ranked 11th in the world and have a squad chock-full of household names such as Wayne Rooney, Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane. Iceland, on the other hand, are 34th in the Fifa rankings and competing in its first major international tournament. The Nordic island's population of 330,000 is roughly the size of the English city of Leicester.

You'd be hard pressed to find a fan in Singapore who can identify more than two or three Icelandic players off the top of his head, much less pronounce their names correctly.