Iceland chills out Portugal in draw
SAINT-ETIENNE, FRANCE— A goal from Birkir Bjarnason earned Iceland a shock 1-1 draw with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal on Tuesday at the European Championship, the tiny Scandinavian nation’s first-ever match at a major tournament.
Iceland, which managed only four shots to Portugal’s 25, was secondbest most of the Group F game and trailed to a first-half strike by Nani.
But its players showed resilience throughout and took advantage of Portugal’s profligacy in front of the goal. Bjarnason slotted home the equalizer in the 50th minute with a curled volley at the far post against the run of the play, moments after Ronaldo missed a chance to make it 2-0 when he shot wide.
“We should have scored more goals, there is no secret about that,” Portugal coach Fernando Santos said.
In Bordeaux, Gabor Kiraly set an age record and helped Hungary beat Austria 2-0 on Tuesday.
The Hungary goalkeeper became the first 40-year-old player to participate in the continental championship, surpassing the record set by Germany great Lothar Matthaus by almost a year.
Adam Szalai gave Hungary the lead at Stade de Bordeaux with his first goal in 12 appearances. Substitute Zoltan Stieber added the other after Austria was reduced to 10 men when Aleksandar Dragovic was shown a second yellow card.
With a population of 330,000, Iceland is the smallest nation ever to play at a European Championship. It defied the odds by finishing second in its qualifying group behind the Czech Republic and above Turkey and the Netherlands, defeating the Dutch twice.
“So many things are happening for the first time to Iceland,” the team’s co-coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said. “This is another first-time achievement. It was fantastic to play here. It was like playing at home, the fans were fantastic.”
Nani put Portugal in front with a clinical finish from close range on a day when Ronaldo equalled Luis Figo’s Portugal record of127 caps — but lacked his usual composure.
“It’s down to teamwork,” Hallgrimsson said of Iceland’s success against the Real Madrid star.
“You can’t put one player to stop a guy like Ronaldo. It has to be a team effort, closing the areas. There were a lot of players responsible for Ronaldo tonight. We did a really good job, well done to the lads.”