Iceland vs Austria match report: Late winner takes minnows through to face England in last sixteen
Iceland 2 Austria 1: Traustason scores in injury-time after Dragovic misses penalty
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Your support makes all the difference.Iceland, the smallest country to ever grace a major tournament, will face England in the last sixteen of Euro 2016 after securing a remarkable late win against Austria.
Hailing from a tiny island of just 330,000 inhabitants and unable to play outside for large chunks of the year to due to the freezing conditions, it was remarkable that the North Atlantic nation even made it to the finals.
Iceland have upset the apple cart once again, though, securing a last-gasp 2-1 win against Austria, ranked 10th in the world, thanks to Arnor Ingvi Traustason's stoppage-time effort in Paris.
Their first-ever win at a major tournament sets up a last-16 clash on Monday in Nice against England - a country approximately 165 times the size of Iceland.
The minnows threatened from the outset as Johann Gudmundsson's thunderous early effort hit the frame, with Jon Dadi Bodvarsson opening the scoring smartly after 18 minutes after officials missed Aron Gunnarsson stepping across the line when providing the mammoth throw that led to the opener.
Aleksandar Dragovic wasted a chance for Austria to go in level after hitting a penalty against the post, but an improved second-half display brought a goal as substitute Alessandro Schopf scored a smart solo effort.
Marcel Koller's side peppered the Iceland goal for the remaining 30 minutes yet not only failed to get the win they required but suffered a late defeat, with substitute Traustason finishing a stoppage-time break.
“I can't really describe this, doing this with your best friends is fantastic,“ defender Kari Árnason said. ”That’s the feeling of all the lads. We're a tight-knit group and what we've done is fantastic. It's extra fun to do this with my best friends.
“Having 10,000 people here from Iceland is unbelievable. It's like having your family at the game. I know probably 50% of the crowd - or at least recognise them! This is extra sweet.
“I've always supported England in the big tournaments when we haven't been playing. We're going into this with full force and try to get a result. We believe in our ability.”
England have faced Iceland twice before, drawing 1-1 in 1982 while winning 6-1 in Manchester in 2004.
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