Iceland vs Hungary - Lars Lagerback remains grounded ahead of Iceland clash with Hungary
Saturday, June 18, 2016 Source: PAIceland and Hungary provided the two biggest upsets of the opening round of group matches but joint coach Lars Lagerback is not getting carried away as his Nordic newcomers prepare for their second game in Marseille.
Iceland marked their first appearance in a major tournament by coming from behind to earn a 1-1 draw against Portugal while Hungary, in their first game in the European Championship since 1972, won 2-0 against Austria and head into Saturday's clash top of Group F.
Lagerback, who led his native Sweden in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and the European Championships in 2000, 2004 and 2008, knows that famous point against Portugal will count for little if his Iceland team do not perform again against Hungary.
"There are such small margins when you come to these championships," the 67-year-old said at his pre-match press conference.
"You can [progress] from a group of death as we did with Sweden once (in the 2002 World Cup) but you can go out also. We're far from that yet.
"We haven't started climbing any volcanoes yet. We have to keep our feet on the ground and do a good job against Hungary, otherwise we will lose that match."
Hungary are at their first major competition since the 1986 World Cup and after making a winning start in France head coach Bernd Storck believes the country should already be targeting regular appearances at further tournaments.
"After the European Championship is qualifying for the World Cup in Russia," said Storck at his pre-match press conference.
"Since we want to play a good role again (in international football) the participation here should not be a one-off and it is a huge challenge to permanently bring Hungarian football out of the woodwork."
Hungary will be chasing successive wins at a major tournament for the first time since the 1966 World Cup and have beaten Iceland in each of the past five meetings.
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