Monday in France, one of the most dominant eras of soccer ended at the hands of the Italians, as they defeated two-time defending Euro Cup champions Spain. Many had them rated as the best team in the tournament, even after they lost to Croatia after winning their first two matches, and were rated as one of the favorites coming into this year's edition.

Some might point to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as the real beginning to the end, but that was an older Spanish team, still clinging to their most golden era of players. This squad in France was supposed to be the perfect blend of youth and experience, with new talent stepping in to fill big shoes. Certainly this is not how they wanted to potentially send off manager Vicente del Bosque into retirement.

In the other round-of-16 match up Monday, Iceland took on England in Nice. Iceland came into the match not having lost in France, and ended Monday night still undefeated. England lately has been prone to epic fails and exits in their last few international tournaments, but this one was the most epic by far. You can tell it was as literally all 11 players on the pitch immediately dropping to the hands and knees as time expired and the scoreboard read 2-1 in favor of Iceland. 

No doubt the loss stung even more due to the controversies surrounding England on and off the field since the tournament began. Before the Three Lions even took the field their fans brawled with those of Russia, resulting in arrests, injuries and all sorts of bad publicity. Then in their third game in which they lost to Slovakia, manager Roy Hodgson made six changes to his starting XI, which drew the ire of critics especially since they lost.

Then of course has Friday's public referendum all over the UK, which saw a surprise vote in favor of leaving the European Union. Surely at least a few players and staff were thrown off as many play in the English Premier League, which draws huge benefits from the EU enabling talent to freely flow off the continent and onto British shores.

Hodgson's job was on the line pending the results of England's finish in France, therefore after such a disastrous exit it's no surprise he immediately resigned from his post. The state of English soccer is in utter disarray, surprising as most of the players play in arguably the best league on the planet.

Photo: Flickr/Dan Farrimond