Budapest (AFP)
Hungary have qualified for Euro-2020, where they will find a "group of death" bringing together France, Portugal and Germany, thanks to their victory over Iceland 2-1 in Budapest on Thursday.
Finalist of the 1938 and 1954 World Cups, it is the second Euro in a row for Hungary.
Led throughout the match, the Hungarians waited until the 88th minute to find the net and score in quick succession, thus obtaining their ticket for Euro-2020, thanks to the liberating goal in added time of their 20-year-old nugget Dominik Szoboszlai.
However, the Icelandic recipe worked for a long time: after quickly opening the scoring (11th) thanks to a free kick from their star striker Gylfi Sigurdsson very badly negotiated by the Hungarian goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, they adopted a more wait-and-see position, allowing them to proceed against.
The Hungarians, at home, in the modern empty "Puskas Arena", came up against the Icelandic block and their goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson, showing themselves especially dangerous on set pieces.
The team of Italian coach Marco Rossi, absent from the bench because positive for the coronavirus, has always believed in it, pushing to the end and this mess in the defense of the "Vikings", which Loïc Nego took advantage of (88th) .
Extra time was looming, but the young Szoboszlai, who bursts the screen at RB Salzburg, made the difference on his own in added time, after a breakthrough in the heart of the Icelandic defense concluded with a clear strike leaving no chance for the keeper (90th + 2).
The Hungarian selection will return to the "Puskas Arena" next June, since it will host Portugal, European champion on June 15, then the French world champions on the 19th, before going to challenge Germany at home, in Munich, 23.
The Icelanders will therefore not participate in the second Euro in their history after a good run during the previous edition in France in 2016, where they had attracted the sympathy of the public before being eliminated by the host country in the quarter-finals.
© 2020 AFP