Hungary strike late to draw with Iceland

Hungarian football fans have been accused of making Nazi salutes during a Euro 2016 game against Iceland.

Iceland’s form coming into the tournament has been inconsistent, with the nation of only 330,000 having lost six of their past ten games.

Almost 27,000 Icelanders bought a ticket to watch one of their team’s Euro 2016 matches in France - that’s more than 8 percent of the country’s 330,000 people.

There were further crowd disturbances at the Euros today as Hungary fans clashed with riot police inside the Stade Velodrome ahead of their Group F meeting with Iceland.

“We were so close”, said Iceland forward Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, who was named man of the match. It was a big slice of luck but a deserved one because we dominated. Several loud bangs were heard and there was a cloud of smoke, delaying the restart.

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. The 40-year-old Kiraly failed to gather Gudmundsson’s corner and in the ensuing scramble for possession, Kadar brought down captain Aron Gunnarsson. “Some would say it was a soft penalty”.

“I have seen a replay, I don’t think he could have done much with that”, he said.

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

Aside from a last minute free-kick from Iceland, that saw a deflected Eidur Gudjohnsen shot bounce wide of the post, both sides were forced to accept once point apiece.

As for Hungary, head coach Bernd Storck has made three changes to the team that opened with a 2-0 victory over Austria. “People live in the past and we need to support this new generation and give them a little time”.

He said: “We were happy with a point against Portugal but we’re disappointed with this result”.

Iceland now have two points, as their hopes of progression still survive - Hungary, meanwhile, have collected four, what should be enough to grant them a place in the last 16. “Even though we’ll always go for the three points it is good to know if we need to take risks”.

After the final whistle Turkish fans lit flares at the Stade de Nice despite UEFA’s strict ban on all flares entering the stadium.