Iceland's shocking success at Euro 2016 the latest surprise upset in sports - Action News
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Iceland's shocking success at Euro 2016 the latest surprise upset in sports

Iceland surprised soccer fans by advancing to the quarter-finals at Euro 2016 on Monday by beating England, known as the "home" of football. In light of that major upset, we present 10 more shocking sports victories.

Iceland's surprise win over England at Euro 2016 the latest of a long list of sporting surprises

Players from the small country of Iceland celebrate their surprising victory over England at the Euro 2016 soccer tournament. (Claude Paris/Associated Press)

Iceland surprised soccer fans by advancing to the quarter-finals on Monday at theEuro 2016 by beating England, known as the "home" of football.

In light of that major upset, we present 10 more shocking sports victories. This isn't a comprehensive list and is in no particular order.

Miracle on Ice

The U.S. hockey team beat the much-favoured U.S.S.R. team 4-3 at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. The Soviet team was made up of legendary players, while the U.S. squad featured amateur and collegiate athletes. The Americans weren't expected to fare well, let alone take the gold medal.

(Associated Press)

Michael Chang wins 1989 French Open

The 17-year-old Chang beat IvanLendlin the fourth round and won the title in five sets over StefanEdberg. He is still the youngest man to win a Grand Slam tennis title.


Greece wins Euro 2004

Greece seemed to come out of nowhere to make it to the final rounds and beat Portugal, the host team, 1-0, shocking soccer fans worldwide.

(Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

Soderling tops Nadal

RafaelNadal earned the nickname "King of Clay" after winning the French Open title each year from 2005 to 2008, but was upset by the23rdseeded Robin Soderling, who was relatively unknown, in four sets in the fourth round of the2009 tournament.

(Lionel Cironneau/Associated Press)

Red Sox break curse

The Boston Red Sox hadn't won the World Series since 1918, which some blamed on the Curse of the Bambino, which was finally broken in 2004. First the team came back from a three-game deficit to beat the New York Yankees to win the ALCS, then they swept the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series.

(Mike Blake/Reuters)

U.S. wins 1950 World Cup

England was expected to dominate its competition during its first World Cup appearance.But the "Kings of Football" were shocked by the American team, which was made up of a group of part-time players. The U.S. won the first-round match 1-0.


Kings finally win

The Los Angeles Kings had to wait 44 seasons to finally hoist the cup. The team squeaked into the 2012 NHLplayoffs as the eighth seed. The team's cup run included a first-round win over the Vancouver Canucks, who had won the Presidents' Trophy, awarded to the club finishing the regular season with the best overall record.

(Dave Sandford/Associated Press)

Serenaloses 2015 U.S. Open

SerenaWilliams had won the three previous Grand Slam tennis tournaments in 2015 and was expected tomatchSteffiGraf's22 titles at the 2015 U.S. Open. Instead, she lostto43rdrankedRobertaVinci in a three-set semifinal match.

(Seth Wenig/Associated Press)

Douglas topples Tyson

Boxer Buster Douglas only had 42-1 odds to beat Mike Tyson in January 1990, but the bookies didn't know Tyson wasn't really prepared for the bout. Tyson's usually powerful punches weren't enough and he lost in seven rounds.

(Reuters/Kyodo)

Jets win Super Bowl III

Quarterback Joe Namath had promised his New York Jets would win the Super Bowl in 1969 and he delivered, leading his team to victory over the Baltimore Colts, a team which had only lost once during the regular season.

(Associated Press)

Corrections

  • An earlier version of this story said Iceland's surprise win over England at Euro 2016 put them into the round of 16. In fact, it put Iceland into the quarter-final round.
    Jun 28, 2016 6:32 PM ET