Hungary salvages 1-1 draw with Iceland amid crowd trouble

MARSEILLE, France Iceland named the same team while Hungary made three changes for their Euro 2016 group F match on Saturday.

THE LEVEL OF security at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome was again open to question after police failed to prevent around 200 Hungary fans from moving from one end of the ground to the other ahead of Saturday’s game with Iceland. Iceland looked to have secured a famous victory but with three minutes of normal time Birkir Mar Sævarsson turned the ball into his own net.

“It’s really good to have a point”. Gylfi Sigurdsson kept his cool from the spot to give Iceland the lead and give their fans another extraordinary moment in the stands.

“In the very old days, we used to be quite barbaric”, Gudmundsson said, harking back to his country’s Viking heritage.

Keeper Gabor Kiraly had to spreads himself to prevent Johann Gudmundsson from scoring from eight yards on 32 minutes but moments later came the dubious penalty award.

“There was definitely a touch”, Iceland co-coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said. In the ensuing melee, Russian referee Sergei Karasev ruled that defender Tamas Kadar had fouled Aron Gunnarsson.

A tense battle in midfield sees Iceland leading on the break in their Group F game against Hungary 1-0 at the break.

Iceland must win the game for a chance to go through to the round of 16.

“We put a lot of effort into defending, what we did badly was keeping the ball”.

Iceland, who almost stole a victor with the final kick, a deflected snapshot by substitute former Chelsea and Barcelona forward Eidur Gudjohnsen, face Austria on Wednesday in their final group game.

Kolbeinn Sigthorsson headed wide Sigurdsson’s left-wing cross on a rare counterattack, and after the scores were levelled, a last-gasp free-kick on the edge of the Hungary box prompted a late burst of drama.