Iceland faced Austria in a key fixture for both the teams , and the winner was assured a place in the last 16 provided favourable result in the Hungary – Portugal game. Iceland took the lead in the first half through Bodvarsson in the 18th minute, before Schopf gave Austria some hope with his 60th minute eualiser. However , Iceland had a fairy tale ending, playing in their first major torunaement qualified for the next round as Arnór Ingvi Traustason scored a dramatic late winner to send Iceland through to the next round , here are the 3 things we learnt from Iceland vs Austria
1 Iceland surprised everyone
Iceland proved to be the surprise package of the tournament. This was the first ever major tournament the country has played in and no one would have expected them to qualify for the second round , set aside qualifying in second place. They played some really great football in the last 3 games and thoroughly deserve their place in the knockout round.
2 Austria surprised themselves
Austria were expected to go through the group , alongside Portugal. They were beaten in the opening game by arch rivals Hungary and drew disappointingly against Portugal. They needed 3 points from this game to give themselves a chance to qualify , yet they only had themselves to blame for their failure, they came into the tournament with a good squad including the likes of Christian Fuchs, Aleksandar Dragovic and Marko Arnautovic. They now need to look at what went wrong and need to focus on the World Cup
3 Iceland will now face England
Having finished the group as runners up , Iceland will now face England in the round of 16 , a fixture which England will win on paper any day , but given England’s struggles and Iceland’s recent form, this one will be a cracking fixture.
Also read : Euro 2016 : 5 things we learnt from Hungary vs Portugal
