Szalai, nobody’s idea of a prolific scorer, took a return pass from Kleinheisler and slid the ball past previously untroubled goalkeeper Robert Almer.
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GOAL: Zoltan Stieber scores for Hungary in the 87th minute.
It went from bad to worse for Austria in the 66th minute when Aleksandar Dragovic picked up his second yellow card for a late challenge on Tamas Kadar inside the Hungarian penalty box.
One of today’s Euro 2016 matches will be played between neighbours Austria and Hungary in Group F. Austria had a disastrous Euro campaign in 2008 on their home soil but since then have progressed by leaps and bounds.
“He was chosen in goal because he’s a great player”, said Storck.
Hungary, once world football powerhouses and now eager to bounce back following decades of under-achievement, weathered the Austrian storm.
Storck said after the match: “When you look at the Austria team and compare it to ours – the experience, the champions they have – it was obvious who the favourite was”.
The Austrians nearly scored the quickest goal of the tournament, when Bayern Munich’s David Alaba, playing in midfield, fired a rocket from 25 meters after only 29 seconds.
The oldest player at the event, 40-year-old keeper Gabor Kiraly got down quickly to block a shot by Bremen’s Zlatko Junuzovic.
Kleinheisler then took one shot from distance as Hungary registered an early attempt on target, but it was a comfortable save for Almer.
Hungary qualified for their first European Championship finals since 1972 by beating Norway 3-1 in the play-off round, after they finished third in Group F behind Romania and Northern Ireland. We scored a fantastic goal through Szalai, a huge compliment to him, he got his reward for a hard-working performance. “Everyone worked together. I think we managed to do everything our manager told us in terms of advice and strategy”.
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Zoltan Gera was the next player to try his luck from distance in the 24th minute, but the experienced midfielder’s effort never had enough power to seriously trouble Almer in the Austrian net. This spell saw Austria start to lose some of their focus, with silly fouls and some theatrics from both sets of players. Iceland isn’t going to be expected to push Portugal in this match, but they better keep an eye on Alfreð Finnbogason.
