Thanks, Iceland

Now isn't the time to be cheesy and write how the Icelanders woke up from their dream, or about how they suffered a cold night in Paris. It's time to say thank you. To show our gratitute for the lads from Iceland, who together with the Albanians and the Welsh, have strived to add a touch of the heroic to a competition that up to this point has offered a lamentable standard of football in so many of the games. 

Iceland won their entry ticket fair and square to the inflated Euros

UEFA wanted to exploit the European Championship by inflating the size of the tournament, making for a tedious, long initial phase. Only the purity of these smallers countries, who won their entry tickets fair and square in qualifying, and who evoke the joy of playing for playing's sake, almost amateur, in a competition which is more of a homage to football marketing every day, has kept the footballing fans hooked. 

So thank you Iceland: for your humility, your purity and for the footballing exhibition you gave us, when so many thought you were just there to make up the numbers. Thank you.