Hungary Beat Norway To End Their Finals Drought

Hungary Beat Norway
• Norway pile on pressure
• Kiraly saves again & again
• Kleinheiser & Priskin score

If you didn't watch Hungary beat Norway in the play-off stage in qualification for the Euro 2016 finals in France next year, you missed a treat. Both games, in Oslo and Budapest, were superbly fluid games packed full of action and excitement that saw plenty of dramatic moments, some great goals, and, in the end, Hungary qualify for their first major footballing tournament since the World Cup in Mexico way back in 1986.

Anyone who had taken advantage of Norwegian gambling laws could have been forgiven for being quite sure of themselves going into the first leg. They'd won more of their group matches, and although the Hungarians had gained more points, they'd both only come third, and anyway Norway's goal difference was better. Sure, it might be a hard-fought victory, but Norway fans were quite buoyant about the prospects of the game ahead when the two met first in the Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo.

It began encouragingly enough with Skjelbred stretching Gabor Kiraly into one of his trademark all-important saves early on, and in a distinctly open game both sides had their moments, but it was Hungary's Laszlo Kleinheisler who made the most of his senior debut, turning inside the Norwegian defense and not letting Nyland get enough of a hand to it. If you hadn't expected to see Hungary beat Norway you were watching it now. No one knew this better than the Norwegians.

As the game continued the Norwegians laid siege to the Hungarian goal, the pressure on the Hungarian defense was relentless and hugely entertaining to watch, their domination of possession keeping the Magyars on the back foot, something they appeared increasingly comfortable with. At the back Gumzmics, Lang, Kadar and Fiola were very much in charge and as corner after corner rained down on him Kiraly kept his cool and his sheet clean helping Hungary beat Norway despite a scare or two.

Hungary Beat Norway

Now those of you that bet on sports in Norway will know how close it came in that first leg, how very late on, with just two minutes to go, Alexander Soderlund was denied by Kiraly closing him down fast, and the rebound, oh that rebound, lifting almost perfectly for substitute Pal Andre Heland who then dramatically headed it against the crossbar watching the ball, and Norway's chances sail away into nothing. Hungary beat Norway in the first leg, alright, but there was still that second leg.

Norway's chances weren't the best going into a game against a Hungarian team hungry for victory having tasted the possibility that this time they would be traveling to a major competition finals, especially not in front of an enthusiastic and loud home crowd in Budapest, but as the commentators assured us, it was by no means beyond them to turn it around, by no means an insurmountable task that lay before them, and with Norwegian wunderkind Martin Odegaard in the side, who could say?

Betting was rampant at sites like ComeOn! Sportsbook, and if anyone expected the Hungarians to sit back and defend their 1-0 aggregate lead they were to be very much mistaken as the team came out firing on all cylinders trying to put a smile on the face of the terse looking head coach Bernd Storck. They did that, they did that and then some. Hungary beat Norway by being good in defense in Oslo but in Budapest it was a far more even performance and it resulted it an amazing first goal.

Hungary Beat Norway Through An Ensemble Performance

Tamas Priskin hooked onto the end of a nicely paced long ball from Kadar, slid neatly to the inside of the somewhat surprised Norwegian defense and then curled home a spectacular shot that left a somewhat stunned Hyland ineffectively sprawling at it with no chance at all. It appeared that the capacity crowd would see Hungary beat Norway, would see them qualify for France, would see their thirty year decline come to an end. They went mad.

Norway's chances ebbed even more when, perhaps ironically after the first leg, a corner for Hungary took a nasty deflection off Henriksen (amusingly tipped in the advert break at half time to score next by Bet365) that gave the Hungarians their second goal putting the game almost obviously beyond the reach of a Norwegian team whose technical build up never seemed to find net as Kiraly made stops against Aleesami, Pedersen, Dzudzsak, and Berget, keeping Hungary from disaster each time.

Henriksen got one back towards the end (to make up for his own goal perhaps) but by that time no one was gambling news headlines wouldn't be screaming about how Hungary beat Norway to reach the Euro 2016 finals after an international drought of three decades. It was over and Norway had been beaten, but an Hungarian team that could surprise a few people in France next summer. Think they'll lift the trophy? Well the odds at ComeOn! Sportsbook are 251.00, which has to be worth a punt, right?