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Wayne Rooney (centre) and his team-mates look dejected after losing their last 16 European Championship game to Iceland on Monday night

LONDON. —England is a country where governments crumble, markets collapse and the nation’s football team loses a European Championship game to Iceland.

In the event of England’s exit from Euro 2016, an obvious headline had been laid out: ‘Go in the name of cod, go’ – aimed at Roy Hodgson.

But there is no need to run it.

Hodgson’s reign as England manager was beyond untenable from the moment Iceland erupted in celebration and he quit without taking questions.

Iceland deserved every second, every laugh and kiss of the post-match cavorting.

But their amazing achievement in earning a quarter-final against France cannot disguise the reality that this was England’s most humiliating night in international football, far worse than the 1950 World Cup defeat to the USA in Belo Horizonte.

The contagion from England’s week of political hell has spread across the channel and down through France to destroy England as a credible football nation.

Again, this takes nothing away from Iceland, who were rugged and ruthless. At the same time, though, money, fame and resources were all spectacularly over-turned.

England, who went out at the group stage in Brazil – eight days into the 2014 World Cup – cannot be said to have made progress.

Forget “youth” and “development”.

England won one of their four games here in France.

They drew with Russia and Slovakia and beat Wales only in the dying seconds after making a hash of team selection.

At no stage did Hodgson seem clear about his best starting XI.

Bringing on the eager and lively Marcus Rashford for five minutes at the end against Iceland was his final questionable act on a very long list.

They say one night in Paris is like a year in any other place.

Well, an evening in Nice can be pretty eventful too, if you end up chasing a game against tournament debutants with a population of just 330 000 but a mighty spirit.

This game, in which England should have been able to assert their Premier League pedigree (however much Iceland’s progress is lauded), turned into an embarrassing battle.

The prize of a quarter-final tie against France in Paris slipped out of England’s grasp and into the hands of Iceland, leaving Hodgson’s men with a lifetime of painful memories.

The stand-out upset in England’s 66-year international story is the USA’s 1-0 win in 1950. But defeat here in Nice was always going to be a deeper trauma.

This one came in the era of the Premier League as global industry.

Here, a £49 million left-sider, Raheem Sterling, went toe-to-toe with Birkir Saevarsson (31), who plays for Hammarby in Sweden.

Before that it was Valur and Brann.

In England’s midfield, Wayne Rooney made his 115th appearance, joining David Beckham as England’s most capped outfield player, 10 short of goalkeeper Peter Shilton.

Rooney’s counterpart as captain was Aron Gunnarsson of Cardiff City.

By this stage, international tournaments are meant to strike down romantic tales.

Thus we saw Germany smash Slovakia and Belgium wipe Hungary off the chart. The last 16 is the stage when the rich countries ought to be taking over.

If fatigue was a possible hindrance for the darlings of this tournament, it was hardly visible in an 18-minute opening spell that showed why England’s defending had been their big pre-tournament worry. The game started with a smooth affirmation of England’s higher status: a Rooney penalty after Iceland’s goalkeeper had tripped Sterling.

Hart’s poor goalkeeping was a shock.

His inability to keep out Gareth Bale’s free-kick in the Wales game was marked down as an aberration.

For him to repeat the mistake two games later suggests a deeper loss of form, of strength and timing. Equally Sigthorsson should never have been allowed so much time to shape his shot.

After the interval Eric Dier gave way to Jack Wilshere, who was off the pace against Slovakia and could find no rhythm in his passing. Once again in this game we saw England’s all-time leading scorer (Rooney) taking corners and the Premier League’s No. 1, Kane, curling in free-kicks. Too much of what England did here in France defied logic.

Vardy’s arrival in place of Sterling on 59 minutes confirmed Hodgson’s inability to see that England’s most expensive footballer (Sterling) is shot to bits, in his confidence and his touch.

It was shame Hodgson refused to show similar faith in Vardy, who runs behind defences rather than shuttling the ball around in front of them, which too many of these England players do.

Kane, Rooney and Hart also had dreadful games.

England lacked composure and precision as they seemed to sense that calamity was closing in. The old fatalism returned.

We should pause a moment to say again: well done Iceland. If only England had their qualities. — Telegraph.