Iceland v Hungary, Saturday June 18
Marseilles, Live on BBC, 5pm
Iceland meet Hungary in the Saturday afternoon fixture (5pm, live on BBC1) in a match already being billed as one of the least attractive match-ups ever seen in the European Championships. Both teams somewhat exceeded expectations in their opening group games, Iceland pulling off a hugely fortunate 1-1 draw with Portugal and the Hungarians seeing off so called dark horses Austria.
Iceland – the story so far
Birkir Bjarnason’s second half equaliser against Portugal was certainly one of the most popular goals scored in this year’s European Championships, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s salty post-match comments where he insulted both Iceland’s negative tactics and their use of Kerry Katona in their TV adverts fanned the flames further. Iceland were certainly resolute in their defence during that first match, Portugal took a competition-high 21 shots and goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson was in almost constant action.
In their second match at the Stade Velodrome on Saturday they should find Hungary a slightly less potent proposition and an altogether different challenge. Iceland should have a far greater share of the football and during qualification they proved themselves adept at defeating this type of mediocre opposition.
Hungary – the story so far
Hungary surprised a number of people after picking up an incredible 2-0 victory against Austria in their opening Group F match. Bernd Storck’s side looked composed on the ball and opened the scoring through the previously goal-shy Adam Szalai. With Austria down to 10 men following Alexander Dragovic’s red card, Zoltan Stieber made the game safe with a breakaway goal as the game approached injury time.
With Gabor Kiraly looking to keep Iceland at bay with his trademark tracksuit tracksuit bottoms, Hungary know that on Saturday would confirm their place in the last 16. In defence, the excellent Laszlo Kleinheisler will be looking to come out of this match with another clean sheet and with so many games already in the tournament being low scoring games settled by a single goal, this game points in a similar direction.
Recommended bets
- Under 2.5 goals @
- Final score 1-1 @
- Ádám Szalai first goalscorer @
- View the full match betting market here!
Euro 2016 Tournament Data widget: