Alessandro Schopf equalised after the interval and Austria spent much of the second half camped in opposition territory, but stout defence and Traustason’s counter-attacking effort gave the travelling hordes from Iceland a moment to savour.
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The Swedes were eliminated from the competition while Belgium advanced to the round of 16, where they will play Hungary on Sunday in Toulose.
Dorman and Hixon finished the men’s synchro 3-meter with a final score of 1,308.36 at the U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis, taking the lone spot on the American team. It’s like having your family at the game.
Like Iceland, England progressed as group runners-up with a win and two draws to their name and Bjarnason recognises a strong outfit with a point to prove, while he is backing his team-mates to show their quality with the pressure off. We have qualified to the 16 team final! “Well, we are still underdogs but now we are aware that we are probably the second team everyone supports in this tournament”.
Iceland’s victory, which came deep in stoppage time, has earned the team a mouthwatering round of 16 match against England in Nice Monday – a prospect previously described as a “dream” by captain Aron Gunnarsson.
“We will have to have our best game but even then we know we can still lose”.
The game got off to an electric start and Iceland almost went ahead after three minutes when Johann Gudmundsson rattle the crossbar from 25-yards out.
“That’s how much (this result) means to us”, said Hallgrimsson, referring to Icelandic National Day which commemorates the country’s independence from Danish rule in 1944.
“To be honest we were a little surprised”, said Ragnar Eiriksson, 37, a chef at Dill restaurant in central Reykjavik who watched the game with staff ahead of the evening service.
Austria boss Marcel Koller tried to pick out the positives from a disappointing campaign in France.
“We were lucky on occasions but showed fantastic mentality throughout and there were a lot of exhausted legs”. “We will be analysing that in the next few months, but the disappointment is really huge”.
“We go into the game to get a result. To do this with your best friends is fantastic”, he said.
“Having 10,000 people here from Iceland is unbelievable. It’s extra sweet for us”.
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“I’ve always supported England at big worldwide tournaments when we haven’t been playing. We believe in our ability”.
