Szoboszlai: My whole life flashed before me

Cosimo Inguscio pointed out during the post-match press conference that the team's play was impeccable in the second half, Endre Botka said he was enjoying the victory, and Dominik Szoboszlai said that without his teammates, his winning goal would not have been possible.

"The match started in a difficult way and we found it hard in the first 15-20 minutes. There seemed to be some who felt the pressure, which today was much greater on us than in Wales, where we knew there'd still be a chance even in the event of defeat", said Inguscio, who led the national team in the absence of head coach Marco Rossi, at the post-match press conference. “We started to find our rhythm later in the first half, and spoke with Mr Rossi during the break, after which we made it clear to ourselves that this opportunity was starting to slip out of our hands. It seemed to the guys that they felt it was very important to perform well. The performance of the guys in the second half left nothing else to be desired and ultimately we deserved the victory".

Inguscio also revealed that the backroom staff had kept in touch with Rossi during the match, who tried to help the team from afar while he is in quarantine folowing a positive COVID test.

"We've been in constant contact with Marco, which I think was the right thing to do in such an extraordinary situation". He's the head coach with the responsibility on his shoulders. During the half-time break, we talked by video link about what we needed to change and we also decided on the substitutions. We were in constant contact with him from the bench though too.

Journalists pointed out that these coaches, as Italians, had done a lot for Hungarian football. Cosimo Inguscio reacted to this by saying they are very happy for themselves now too, but mainly for the Hungarian people.

“Something has matured tonight that we have been preparing for a very long time and we thank you for your trust. We have been working with each other for around nine years and we have made attempts to learn Hungarian, but so far we've failed. Marco, Giovanni Costantino and I vowed that if we'd reach the European Championship, we would do our best to really learn Hungarian, as we feel this is still a barrier".

Finally, on behalf of the entire staff, Inguscio thanked everyone from the stewards to Zoltán Gera for their work and trust.

Meanwhile, Hungary squad member Endre Botka can look back on an incredible month; he's playing in the Champions League with his club Ferencváros, and now he has qualified for the UEFA European Championship with his national team.

“Even before the match, I felt like we were going to win, and even during the match, no matter that the Icelanders led, I felt we would prevail. Before the match, we talked with each other about how the whole country was supporting us. We know what situation we are in, that everyone has to be home at eight o’clock, so a lot of people would be watching us and we all wanted to make them happy. Further to that, a lot of people are fighting for our health and we were playing for them now too," the right-sided defender admitted. "Marco Rossi was able to talk to the whole team on video before the match and during the break. There were hardly any moments when we were in danger apart from the goal and we kept possession of the ball most of the time. It was very hard to crack the Iceland defence, but in the end it worked!"

Finally, it also emerged that Dominik Szoboszlai, who scored the winning goal, had encoureged everyone during the half-time break, by saying “come on, we can turn it around!”:

“I don’t think everyone necessarily expected me to be the hero; they just expected me to be able to help the team. I may have been the hero, so to speak, but it would not have been possible without my teammates. I'm very proud of the team because we fought throughout the game and this is the result. The last few days have been a big emotional roller-coaster - on Sunday it still seemed as if I couldn’t come and then I finally I was able to sit in a car and get here. When I felt the joy of the goal, everything ran through my mind from my childhood to the fact that now we really were going to be at the European Championship".