Marcel Koller felt his Austria players were struck down by nerves as they fell to a shock 2-0 defeat to Hungary to open their Euro 2016 campaign. From then on Austria were second best as Hungary pressed for a second goal to finally kill the game. Hungary leads Austria 2-0.
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“He contributed to this victory”, Hungary coach Bernd Storck said of Kiraly, the first 40-year-old player to participate in the continental championship. “We got our reward for three weeks of hard work”.
Hungary eventually broke the deadlock in the 62nd minute.
And Austria’s plight worsened soon afterwards when Dragovic caught Tamas Kadar in trying to reach the ball inside the Hungary area and referee Clement Turpin brandished a second caution.
“I don’t want to talk about myself”.
Just being here is a notable achievement for a team that needed a playoff win over Norway to book a trip to France where nobody expects them to excel.
“I think that we registered how well the fans supported us”.
Hungary, who are appearing at their first major finals since the 1986 World Cup, will target a place in the last 16 when they take on Iceland in Marseille on Saturday. The next one will come against Iceland on Saturday in Marseille.
Kiraly has become a social media cult hero for his insistence on playing in tracksuit-bottom pants, just as he did when playing for five English clubs – Palace, West Ham, Aston Villa, Burnley and Fulham.
Hungary grew in confidence, and started to show they could play a bit, moving the ball around sweetly if not with much pace.
Alaba, who often captains the team, sent a rasping shot against keeper Gabor Kiraly’s post in the opening minutes.
Alaba continued to look the most likely to make the breakthrough for Austria as the first period approached its latter stages, but the 23-year-old did not make the most of a free kick in a risky position in the 32nd minute.
“It’s going to be a tight group”.
The Hungarians took the lead just after the hour mark and against the run of play when brilliant interplay between Kleinheisler and Szalai allowed the latter to slide the ball home and score his ninth global goal. We saw that in Austria during qualifying too. “I’m not used to my team doing this”.
Picked as dark horses by many before the tournament, Austria struggled to find their groove throughout and fell behind in the second half when Adam Szalai slotted a finish beneath goalkeeper Robert Almer.
Austria were then reduce to 10 men a few minutes later when Aleksandar Dragovic was dismissed for a second bookable offence.
However, with Alaba and co. frustrated and unable to make the breakthrough, a slick Hungarian counter finished with Zoltán Stieber deftly chipping the ball over the onrushing Almer to seal a historic win.
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With Austria boasting star names such as Bayern Munich’s David Alaba and the Premier League’s Marko Arnautovic, many didn’t give Hungary a chance prior to kick off.
