Thursday 23 June 2016 07:36, UK
Iceland face Austria in their final Group F contest on Wednesday knowing that a victory will guarantee them safe passage into the knockout phase of Euro 2016.
The tiny nation, with a population of just 330,000, arrive at the Stade de France sitting in second place in the table having drawn both of their two matches in the tournament.
Those stalemates came against group favourites Portugal in their opening clash and table-topping Hungary on Saturday, when only a late Birkir Saevarsson own goal denied Iceland a first tournament win.
However, Iceland's joint manager Heimir Hallgrimsson has warned his players they will face a tough challenge against last-placed Austria in the French capital on Wednesday afternoon.
"They had shown through qualifications how good they are," he said. "They are really organised, they seem to have been a bit unlucky in the two first games until now, let's hope that it will continue.
"They have a very good organisation they had shown in the games, they're quite solid, but they also have really good individuals going with it and that's a lethal combination when you have a football team.
"They are good going forward, they're quite solid at the back, so it's not many weaknesses you can point out in the team. We hope they have one or two we're going to use, but I'm not going to tell you that.
"It's a really, really good team, solid team, and they've played some really good games in the qualification."
Marko Arnautovic, meanwhile, wants his Austria team-mates to go out and take the game to Iceland, with Austria needing to win to stand any chance of making it through to the last 16 of the tournament.
"Against Portugal, we showed that we are strong defensively," said the Stoke City forward.
"Now against Iceland we have to show that we can be just as good going forward.
"Now we have to get on the attack. We must set the tone that we know we can.
"We have not found the quality we set as standard [during qualifying] but the European championship is another level and we're not used to playing in a tournament.
"But we only play every team once and it's like a knockout already. Everyone is desperate to win this match."
Team news
Iceland are hoping to be able to select the same starting line-up that came within seconds of beating Hungary in Marseille at the weekend.
Austria boss Marcel Koller welcomes back Aleksandar Dragovic after the central defender was suspended for Saturday's draw with Portugal having picked up two yellow cards in their opening defeat to Hungary.
Match stats
Iceland and Austria have met just three times previously. Austria won one of those games while the remaining two both ended in a draw.
There have been just five goals scored in those three games between the sides, with Austria netting three times to Iceland's two.
The most recent fixture between these two nations came in May 2014 as the sides shared a 1-1 draw, courtesy of a goal each from Austria's Marcel Sabitzer and Iceland's Kolbeinn Sigthorsson.
Austria have lost all three of their visits to the Stade de France (1-2 v Italy in the 1998 World Cup, 0-1 v France in 2007, 1-3 v France in 2009).
Iceland's only previous visit to the Stade de France ended in a 3-2 defeat against France in October 1999. Eidur Gudjohnsen came on as a second-half substitute in that game.
Austria have not progressed from the group stage of a major tournament since reaching the second round at the 1982 World Cup; they have since been eliminated at the group stage at the World Cup in 1990 and 1998 and at Euro 2008.
Iceland have only lost once across their last eight competitive matches (W3 D4).
Merson's prediction
I've been very disappointed with Austria, who I thought would be much better than what they've shown.
I think Iceland started to look a little bit tired at the end of their match with Hungary. They have looked strong defensively and Gylfi Sigurdsson can make something happen for them on the counter-attack.
Iceland might get a third draw in a row from this game, but they've scored in every match so that could be enough to get them into the last 16.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1
Betting
Austria are 11/10 with Sky Bet to record their first victory of Euro 2016, as Iceland are rated 29/10 outsiders while the draw is priced at 21/10.
The well-backed Austrians have drifted out from 40/1 to 80/1 in the outright, with odds on just making the knockout stages being 6/5, while Iceland are narrowly odds-on to make the last 16.
The Soccer Saturday pundits and Jamie Redknapp have made their Sky Bet predictions, including Matt Le Tissier's 28/1 fancy for Marko Arnautovic to score first in a 1-0 Austria win.
