Euro 2016 : Hungary Beats Austria, While Portugal & Iceland Settle For A Draw

Paris: On Tuesday, two major surprises were seen at the UEFA Euro 2016 as Hungary defeated Austria; and Portugal and Iceland ended up in draw.

Austria, undefeated in its 10 qualifying games, has lost 2-0 to long-standing rival Hungary in its opening match of Euro 2016 Group F.

The Hungarians, who only reached the finals through the playoffs, took the lead with a rare goal by forward Adam Szalai in the 62nd minute — his first at international level since October 2014.

Austria thought it had equalised soon after but Martin Hinteregger’s effort was disallowed for a foul by Aleksandar Dragovic who was sent off after receiving a second yellow card.

Having qualified for the first time since reaching the 1972 semi-finals, Hungary is now well placed to reach the last 16.

Iceland enjoyed a big-staged debut as it cinched a shock 1-1 draw against Euro 2016 Group F favorite Portugal.

It was a miserable evening for Portugal’s top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo even though he equalled Luis Figo’s record of 127 appearances for his country. Iceland produced a typically industrious performance on its debut in a major tournament with winger Birkir Bjarnason cancelling out Nani's first-half opener.

Iceland fulfilled its pre-match promise to show no nerves and went close in the third minute when keeper Rui Patricio denied Gylfi Sigurdsson with a double stop, smothering the rebound after parrying the midfielder's first effort.

Portugal eventually got into its stride but the final pass kept going astray in the opening 20 minutes, with Iceland's back four able to close down Ronaldo and Nani in the last third of the pitch.

Austria, undefeated in its 10 qualifying games, has lost 2-0 to long-standing rival Hungary in its opening match of Euro 2016 Group F.

The Hungarians, who only reached the finals through the playoffs, took the lead with a rare goal by forward Adam Szalai in the 62nd minute - his first at international level since October 2014.

Austria thought it had equalised soon after but Martin Hinteregger's effort was disallowed for a foul by Aleksandar Dragovic who was sent off after receiving a second yellow card.

Substitute Zoltan Stieber secured victory three minutes from the end.

In front of two of the noisiest sets of supporters yet seen at the tournament, Austria were the better side in the first half.

David Alaba, the country's player of the year in 2015 for the fifth time in succession, looked as though he could be the game's dominant figure from the first minute when he burst forward and hit a fierce drive against the post from 20 metres.

Goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly, the first 40-year-old to play at a European Championship, was beaten on that occasion but made an excellent save from Zlatko Junuzovic 10 minutes before half-time.

Despite Zoltan Gera's long crossfield passes that were opening up play, Hungary was restricted to shots from distance until Laszlo Kleinheisler handed their only real first-half chance to captain Balazs Dzsudzsak who pulled it across goal.

The game then turned on two incidents within as many minutes just after the hour.

Szalai, nobody's idea of a prolific scorer, took a return pass from Kleinheisler and slid the ball past previously untroubled goalkeeper Robert Almer.

Two substitutes then combined late in the game to clinch an unexpected victory in the 137th meeting between the two sides dating back to 1902.

Tamas Priskin, who had replaced scorer Szalai, sent Stieber racing through to grab the second goal in front of thousands of delighted Hungarians.

Once a sizeable force in world football, the team have been in the doldrums for a long while.

Having qualified for the first time since reaching the 1972 semi-finals, they are now well placed to reach the last 16.