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PARIS -- The Latest from soccers European Championship (all times local):---5:45 p.m.Roy Hodgson says he understands that there will be fierce criticism of England after its surprising 2-1 loss to Iceland in the round of 16.Hodgson, who quit as coach after Mondays defeat, said one particularly bad game has caused a lot of damage and that it could weigh on the team going forward.Theyve got a major bridge to repair, said Hodgson at a news conference called by Englands Football Association.He said he appeared before the press only because he didnt want to give the impression he was frightened to face the music.I have never run away from anybody, he said.The FAs CEO, Martin Glenn, didnt rule out a non-English manager to replace Hodgson, saying the organization would look to appoint the best person for the job.He also said England must fathom out why it has repeatedly underperformed in major tournaments since it won the World Cup in 1966.England seem brittle and we need to understand why that is, he said.---5:20 p.m.Roy Hodgson says hes having trouble digesting Englands exit to Iceland.Im very fragile today, Hodgson told a news conference, a day after the 2-1 defeat that prompted his resignation as coach of the national team. It wasnt a good night for anyone.He said he thought his post-match statement was sufficient, and that he wasnt sure why he had to appear again before the press on Tuesday.I dont really know what Im doing here, he said.I suppose someone has to stand and take the slings and arrows, he added in an apparent reference to one of William Shakespeares most famous lines.---3:50 p.m.Germany and a combined Nordic nations bid are possible candidates to host the 2024 European Championship.UEFA interim general secretary Theodore Theodoridis says the contenders have expressed only unofficial interest for a contest that should be decided in 2018.Theodoridis says he has no indication yet over whether Turkey will bid. Turkey was edged by France for the hosting rights to Euro 2016 and declined an invitation to host Euro 2020 alone.Germany has focused on a 2024 bid, leaving England clear to host the semifinals and final of the multi-nation Euro 2020.The Nordic group of soccer federations from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden said in April they wanted to host the tournament either in 2024 or 2028. That bid would seek to stage events in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, too.---3:45 p.m.Belgium captain Eden Hazard was missing from Tuesdays training session as the squad prepared for its quarterfinal match against Wales at the European Championship.Coach Marc Wilmots did not appear overly concerned about the fitness of the playmaker, who was so impressive in Belgiums 4-0 victory over Hungary on Sunday.Eden felt a slight spasm in the quadriceps at halftime against Hungary, Wilmots said. He is now following an individual program ... and will be back again the day after tomorrow. He will be 100 percent, no problem.Defender Thomas Vermaelen was also absent from the session but he is suspended for Fridays match.---3:40 p.m.Germany coach Joachim Loew has paid tribute to Iceland for causing the biggest upset at Euro 2016 by eliminating England.Loew said Icelands 2-1 win over England on Monday was a big surprise for me.Loew heaped praise on Icelands co-coach Lars Lagerback, crediting the Swede with creating a very good defensive structure.I know that the team has been producing good performances for a long time in qualifying, Loew said at Germanys tournament base at Evian-les-Bains. How they played yesterday, going forward with confidence and courage, that was really class.Iceland, the smallest nation ever to play at the European Championship, will meet host France at the Stade de France on Sunday.Loew, meanwhile, is preparing his side to play old rival Italy in Saturdays quarterfinal in Bordeaux.---3:30 p.m.A prominent Russian politician has called for the countrys football team to be disbanded because of its European Championship failure -- even though Russia is hosting the World Cup in 2018.Dmitry Svishchev, who chairs the sports committee in the Russian parliament, says the entire squad needs to be disbanded because of laziness and should never be selected again, in comments reported by Russian state news agency Tass.Russia finished last in its group at Euro 2016, losing to Wales and Slovakia and drawing with England.Svishchev says Russia should start from scratch with a team of young players who are just starting their careers.Then, he says, we need to prepare for the 2018 World Cup ideologically and educate them in patriotism.---3:20 p.m.For England, the 2016 European Championship will be a tournament few will ever forget -- for all the wrong reasons.The tournament started with hooligans running amok in Marseille and ended with one of the national teams most humiliating defeats.The 2-1 loss to tiny Iceland in the round of 16 on Monday in Nice has prompted the usual questions back home.Are Englands footballers overly pampered-millionaires who lack patriotism? Are they crushed by unrealistic expectations that prompt them to play with fear? Or are they not good enough, not fit to wear the shirt as the fans howled at them after another crushing loss?Goalkeeper Joe Hart said he was lost for words after the defeat, but pre-emptively defended the team against any suggestion they hadnt tried hard enough.I just want people to know how much we put onto this tournament and its not down to desire or anything like that, he said. James Rodriguez Colombia Jersey . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. 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LOS ANGELES -- After leaping from an airplane, Luke Aikins rocketed toward earth for two minutes, and then calmly flipped onto his back at the last second and landed in a 100-by-100-foot net in California.Cheers rose from those who gathered at the Big Sky movie ranch on the outskirts of Simi Valley to watch the stunt, including his family.The 42-year-old skydiver with more than 18,000 jumps made history as the first person to survive a leap without a parachute and land safely in a net.As the audience erupted, Aikins quickly climbed out, walked over and hugged his wife, Monica, who had been watching from the ground with their 4-year-old son, Logan, and other family members.Im almost levitating. Its incredible, the jubilant skydiver said, raising his hands over his head as his wife held their son, who dozed in her arms.This thing just happened! I cant even get the words out of my mouth, he added as he thanked the dozens of crew members who spent two years helping him prepare for the jump, including those who assembled the fishing trawler-like net and made sure it really worked.The jump -- from the death-defying altitude of 25,000 feet -- makes Aikins the only skydiver ever to go from plane to planet Earth without a parachute.The stunt, broadcast live on the Fox network for the TV special Stride Gum Presents Heaven Sent, nearly didnt come off as planned when Aikins revealed just before climbing into his plane that the Screen Actors Guild had ordered him to wear a parachute to ensure his safety.Aikins didnt say what prompted the original restriction, but SAG spokeswoman Pamela Greenwalt said the union and producers could not come to an agreement on the safest way to pursue this stunt and therefore we could not sanction it to go forward under a union agreement.Aikins said he considered pulling out at that point because having the parachute canister on his back would make his landing in the net far more dangerous. If he had to wear it, he said he wouldnt bother to pull the ripcord anyway.Im going all the way to the net, no question about it, he said from the plane. Ill just have to deal with the consequences when I land of wearing the parachute on my back and what its going to do to my body.A few minutes before the jump. one of the shows hosts said the requirement had been lifted. Aikins left the plane without the chute.He jumped with three other skydivvers, each wearing parachutes.dddddddddddd One had a camera, another trailed smoke so people on the ground could follow his descent and the third took an oxygen canister he handed off after they got to an altitude where it was no longer needed.Then the others opened their parachutes and left him on his own.Aikins admitted before the jump he was nervous. and his mother said she was one family member who wouldnt watch.When his friend Chris Talley came up with the idea two years ago, Aikins acknowledged he turned it down cold.I kind of laugh and I say, `Ok, thats great. Ill help you find somebody to do it, he told The Associated Press as he trained for the jump last week.A couple of weeks after Talley made his proposal, Aikins called back and said he would do it. Hed been the backup jumper in 2012 when Felix Baumgartner became the first skydiver to break the speed of sound during a jump from 24 miles above Earth.Aikins was able hit the net with pinpoint precision thanks to GPS alerts in his helmet and a sophisticated lighting setup on the ground that was visible from more than 25,000 feet up, Talley said Sunday. If Aikins veered off course the lights appeared red, but when he was on target they shone bright white.Theyre very similar to the lights that a pilot sees when landing a plane at an airport, Talley said.Aikins was able to alter his course with just the slightest adjustments of his hands, said Talley, who added that experienced skydivers have incredible control over where they land.The 42-year-old daredevil made his first tandem jump when he was 12, following with his first solo leap four years later. Hes been racking them up at several hundred a year ever since.His father and grandfather were skydivers, and his wife has made 2,000 jumps. His family owns Skydive Kapowsin near Tacoma, Washington.Aikins is also a safety and training adviser for the United States Parachute Association and is certified to teach both students and skydiving instructors. His business Para Tactics provides skydiving training to Navy Seals and other members of elite fighting forces.---Associated Press Christopher Weber contributed to this story.---This story has been corrected to show Aikins jumped without a parachute and landed in a net. ' ' '