Norway 0-1 Hungary
Hungary stunned Norway with a 1-0 win thanks to a first-half goal from Laszlo Kleinheisler in the first leg of their Euro 2016 play-off on a chilly night in Oslo.
Kleinheisler gave the visitors the lead in the 26th minute, taking a touch to control Adam Szalai's pass before whipping the ball home for a vital away goal after Norway had created a flurry of chances in a strong opening period.
The Norwegians attacked relentlessly in the search for an equaliser but, despite dominating possession, lacked the guile in attack, which allowed Hungary goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly to celebrate his 100th cap with a clean sheet as well as victory.
Norway, who could have had two second-half penalties for fouls on Omar Elabdellaoui, saw a late header from Pal Andre Helland come back off the bar and coach Per-Mathias Hogmo has to rally his players for the second leg in Budapest on Sunday.
The defeat was Norway's first by Hungary since 1981 and highlighted their inability to score, having managed only 13 goals during a qualifying campaign in which midfielder Alexander Tettey was their top scorer with three goals.
Hungary, on the other hand, did exactly what they set out to do, ceding possession and then striking quickly on the counter attack as the hosts poured forward looking for a goal.
With Norway crying out for a spark of creativity, their promising Real Madrid teenager Martin Odegaard remained on the bench as Hungary held on to take control of the tie.
Hungary boss Bernd Storck afterwards stressed his side's job was not yet done and called for focus in Sunday's return clash.
"Nothing is decided yet and we need to focus on the next game - there is no sense in looking further afield.
"Do not forget that a very long 90 minutes are waiting for us on Sunday," he warned. "This victory is a great success, but we need to focus for the home game."
Regarding Hungary's performance, Storck added: "Though we played with lots of discipline, at the same time it must be recognised that we had some luck - at the beginning of the match there could have been a goal for the Norwegians, but Gabor Kiraly made a big save.
"After that, we got a good lead, and despite the fact we were under enormous pressure, we were still able to get forward as well as being organised and disciplined in defence.
"The key to success was the team's attitude. Among the good performers, Zoltan Gera for example, played well, and I'm sad that we can not count on him in the return (as he will be suspended, having picked up a yellow card in this game).
"Nothing is decided yet and we need to focus on the next game - there is no sense in looking further afield."
Meanwhile, Norway midfielder Markus Henriksen has emphasised the need for the team to move on quickly from Thursday's result - and spoken bullishly about their chances of turning things around.
"We are of course disappointed that we lost at home," Henriksen said. "But we cannot be depressed now. We have a game on Sunday that we must win and we must be ready.
"We will turn this around in Hungary. We can see that there were great opportunities here and we are going to dare to play football on Sunday. We are really looking forward to the game."
