Hungary vs. Iceland – Euro 2020 Playoff, November 12, 2020

Just under 20 months since the qualifying campaign for Euro 2020 began, we will finally know the complete list of nations competing in the tournament on Thursday.

Using Nations League performances as a qualifying back up, there are now eight countries getting ready to play their biggest games of the season. Hungary and Iceland are the top two sides playing this week.

Hungary has the advantage of playing in its own stadium on Thursday – and even without the usual partisan crowd, the Magyars probably justify the favorite tag handed to them by BetOnline. Iceland is an experienced, but aging, team though and will still push Hungary all the way.

Hungary will look to RB Leipzig keeper Peter Gulacsi to perform heroics once again on Thursday. The shot-stopper has only conceded one goal in the last three games and kept a clean sheet against Russia last time out. Captain Adam Szalai will be expected to provide the goals up the other end.

Hungary qualified for the last European Championship in 2016 after not making the finals of a major international tournament for almost 30 years. There is now huge expectation that this squad can beat Iceland here and take the country back to the top table as far as European soccer goes.

In its way is an Iceland squad that has performed miracles over the last five years or so, but is now finding things a little bit more difficult. For a country its size, Iceland has massively overachieved in getting to the position it has, of course. But with limited resources, manager Erik Hamren is hoping that he can keep the country’s record going and prove that the Euro 2016 and World Cup 2018 sides were not a once in a lifetime golden generation.

Iceland made it to this Path A final by beating Romania in Reykjavik, thanks to two goals from Everton midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson. He was playing slightly further up the pitch than he does for his club side and was able to use his immense shooting ability to great effect. He will need to be on top form again on Thursday if Iceland is to stand a chance of qualifying

Hungary holds the upper hand here but the Iceland defense has bags of experience and will look to the help of a strong midfield to close down the home side’s attacking moves. Although I think that Hungary will ultimately prevail, I do feel as though Iceland will be able to keep everything all square until extra time. So the odds for the draw look like the best value.