Iceland's Heimir Hallgrimsson: Win over Austria worth a new national holiday

The smallest nation ever to feature at a major tournament, with a population of just 330,000, left their mark on it when Arnor Ingvi Traustason tapped home deep in stoppage time to beat Austria 2-1.

It was their first ever win on the big stage and set up a tantalising last-16 tie with England in Nice on Monday.

And Hallgrimsson was in no mood to downplay the achievement.

"I guess we will change national holiday. Normally it is 17th June (Icelandic Republic Day), I guess they'll change it now," he said. "That's what it means to us."

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson put Iceland ahead at the Stade de France with Austria eventually levelling through Alessandro Schopf having already missed a penalty.

That set the scene for a dramatic finale, with Traustason capping a breakneck counter to leapfrog Portugal in the Group F table and book their meeting with England.

Their unfettered joy at the result told its own story, but Hallgrimsson took up the tale.

"I think everyone who was watching saw how much it meant to us. We were willing to sacrifice everything for the win," he said.

"I would like to give Austria credit, they fought all the way to the end and to be honest we were lucky on occasions, but we showed fantastic mentality.

"We won the game in the end but it was a rollercoaster."

Man of the match Kari Arnason was full of emotion after the final whistle.

It is estimated around eight per cent of Iceland's population have made the trip to France, and the 33-year-old lent credence to that claim.

"What we've done is fantastic and it's extra fun to do this beside my best friends," he said.

"We're a really tight knit group...and of course all the supporters as well. Like I said before it's like having your family at the game. I know probably 50 per cent of the crowd, or at least recognise them. This is extra sweet for us."

Austria exit the tournament with a solitary point, having been tipped as possible dark horses in the build up.

Captain Christian Fuchs won the Premier League title with Leicester only weeks ago but is now tasting a bitter defeat.

"We had big plans but we struggled to score goals in these three matches, not taking our chances," he said.

"In defence we made individual mistakes with our marking and with the second balls. But we must not focus on little details. Basically, it can be said that we haven't lived up to our expectations, for whatever reason. We will be analysing that in the next few months but the disappointment is really huge."

Coach Marcel Koller coach appeared unimpressed with Iceland's tactics, adding: "If they have 10 players in the penalty area like Iceland well of course it is difficult, we had to find gaps and sometimes we did that well but it was not enough to get another goal.

"There was always a body or a leg in the way. It is luck or bad luck that we didn't get the second goal."