Iceland vs Hungary match report: Late Birkir Saevarsson own goal denies Iceland another day to remember

Iceland 1 Hungary 1

Hungary celebrate Birkir Mar Saevarsson's own goal (Getty)

Iceland is said to be a land of sagas but not all their long stories have a happy ending. There have been plenty of late goals in this tournament but none has been crueller than the one Birkir Saevarsson put into his own net three minutes from the end.

Iceland, the team whose co-manager, Heimar Hallgrimsson is a dentist, whose goalkeeper, Hannes Halldorsson, is a sometime film-maker who directed the country’s Eurovision entry, were moments away from almost certain qualification for the knockout phase of Euro 2016.

Then came a low cross from Nemanja Nikolic, which the full-back slid in to intercept. Given the angle at which he met the ball there was nowhere else for it to go but over the line. However, Saevarsson ought to console himself with the thought that, had he not gone for the ball, Daniel Bode would have had a tap-in.

This was Iceland’s second 1-1 draw in Euro 2016. After the first, against Portugal in St Etienne, Cristiano Ronaldo had criticised them for “celebrating as if they had won the Euros”. Hallgrimsson said his dressing room after this point in Marseilles had been completely silent.

There was more problems involving supporter behaviour inside the stadium (Getty)

“We were five minutes away and just failed to finish the game off,” reflected Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, who plays in France for Nantes. “This goal was a slap in our face but when we got the ball we were not calm enough. If you saw the boys in the dressing room, you would know how this feels like a defeat.”

Hallgrimsson, who would certainly have accepted drawing his first two games, said Iceland had been gradually worn down by Hungary and had been “unclever, naïve, tired and stressed”.

They had been at times pretty heroic and right at the finish there might have been one more twist in the saga. Iceland were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the area and while Gylfi Sigurdsson’s shot slammed against the wall, the rebound fell to one of the great names of Icelandic football, Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Twenty years ago, he had made his international debut coming on as a substitute for his father and it would have been fitting had he scored the goal that sent his nation through to the round of 16. It took a deflection and fizzed inches wide.

When the Hungarian equaliser struck the net, the flares were lit in the stand behind Halldorsson’s goal and the Velodrome echoed to the sound of explosions. One flare landed near the pitch.

For just a minute, it seemed as if the referee, Sergei Karasev, would take the teams off but the Hungary captain, Balazs Dzsudzsak, sprinted over to make a more successful appeal for calm than the Croatian players had done in St Etienne on Friday evening.

On the final whistle the entire Hungary squad went over to their fans to celebrate what should be the point that sees them through to the business phase of the competition.

Gylfi Sigurdsson wheels away after opening the scoring (Getty)

Hungary is one of the glittering names of European football but they have not competed in a European Championship since 1964 and it has been 30 years since their last major tournament. It has been a long and bitter road back.

“History cast a great shadow when I started,” said the Hungary manager, Bernd Storck. “People in Hungary still want to remain in the past but they have to support this new generation.”

The organisation of the tournament has come in for constant criticism but one of Uefa’s great triumphs had been to find someone to translate Icelandic into Hungarian for the press conferences. This was a meeting of Europe’s two most impenetrable languages. Icelandic is very close to the old Norse spoken by the Vikings. Hungarian is like no other language in Europe.

The Icelandic word for ‘penalty’ is vitaspyrna and it was the decision to award one on which this match turned. At first it was not clear for what the Russian referee had decided to award the penalty.

Gabor Kiraly had come to take a routinely-delivered corner, dropped it and then, as he tried to punch the ball clear on his knees he appeared to have bundled over Johann Gudmundsson. However, a second later, Tamas Kadar fouled Iceland’s captain, the bearded and very Viking-like figure of Aron Gunnarsson.

For whatever reason Gylfi Sigurdsson found himself with the ball on the penalty spot. Kiraly had a few moments earlier made a very fine save with an outstretched, track-suited leg and now the 40-year-old steeled himself for a repetition but the Swansea striker sent him the wrong way. Iceland had 50 minutes to hold out for an extraordinary victory. They lasted 47.

Iceland: (4-4-2) Halldorsson; B.Saevarsson, R.Sigurdsson, Arnason, A.Skulason; Gudmundsson, G.Sigursdsson, A.Gunnarson (Hallfredsson 66), B.Bjarnason; Sigthorsson (Gudjohnsen 84), Bodvarsson (Finnbogason 69).

Hungary: (4-3-3) Kiraly; Lang, Guzmics, Juhasz (Szalai 85), Kadar; Kleinheisler, Gera, A.Nagy; Stieber (Nikolic 67), Priskin (Bode 67), Dzsudzsak.

Referee: Sergei Karasev (Russia)