Hungary Women fall to battling defeat in Iceland

Drawn in a tough qualifying group from which the favourites to qualify are World Cup semi-finalists Sweden, Hungary’s other group opponents include an Iceland team which has made the last three European Championships and is ranked 17th in the world, 28 places higher than Hungary in 45th.

Hungary play four of their eight group matches this autumn, with Sweden at home in October followed by Slovakia away in November and Latvia at home in December. First up, though, was Iceland away on Thursday. Head coach Edina Markó had a full squad to choose from for the match, including Wolfsburg’s Zsanett Jakabfi and Bayer Leverkusen’s Henrietta Csiszár and Dóra Zeller in her starting eleven against an Iceland team which was expected to hold a strong physical advantage.

As expected, the hosts dictated the tempo from the off, hitting the woodwork in the seventh minute to serve warning of their intentions, before taking the lead three minutes later as the unmarked Elín Jensen fired past Réka Szőcs. Hungary came more into the match as the half wore on, Csiszár having their first shot on goal in the 21st minute but her effort lacked power. Hungary continued to press but found the going tough against a well-organised Icelandic rearguard until the 42nd minute when Fanni Vágó dinked a ball into the box for Csiszár, who nipped in between a defender and the goalkeeper to score from close range.

Iceland came back out for the second half in determined mood, forcing Hungary on the back pedal as Szőcs saved from Glódís Viggósdóttir and Sara Gunnarsdóttir before Jensen cut the ball back for Hlín Eiríksdóttir to guide the ball home from six yards out on 59 minutes. Six minutes later it was 3-1 to the hosts, Dagný Brynjarsdóttir on hand to tap home after Szőcs could only parry a deflected Svava Gudmundsdóttir effort into her path. Jensen completed the scoring in time added on, Szőcs spilling a Gudmundsdóttir cross right in front of goal and the Iceland forward netting her second of the match as Jón Þór Hauksson’s team opened their campaign with an ultimately- comfortable 4-1 victory.

“The first half went more or less according to plan, even though we needed some fine saves from Szőcs to keep us in them match. It was like the home match against Denmark in that with the score at 1-1 at half time we began to believe we might have a chance of winning, threw more into attack, and left space at the back. Iceland have quick forwards and they were very dangerous on the counterattack. We played with great discipline for about an hour, but after that we struggled to get back when Iceland countered, mistakes crept into our game, and against opponents such as these, such mistakes will be decisive. We have a tough group, and we’ve started away from home against one of our toughest opponents. We need to move on and look forward to our next match”, said Edina Markó after the match.

Women’s European Championship 2021 qualifying round Group F

Laugardalsvöllur - Reykjavik

Iceland 4-1 Hungary (HT: 1-1)

Goalscorers: ISL: Jensen (10’, 90+2’), Eiríksdóttir (59’), Brynjarsdóttir (65’); HUN: Cziszár (42’)

Hungary: Szőcs – Mosdóczi (A.I. Tóth, 69’), Turányi, V. Szabó, Csiki – Fenyvesi (Kocsán, 87’), Rácz, Csiszár – Jakabfi, Vágó (Zágor, 79’), Zeller