Hungary moved tantalisingly close to a first appearance at a major tournament for nearly 30 years when Laszlo Kleinheisler's goal gave them a 1-0 win in the first leg of a Euro 2016 playoff against Norway in Oslo on Thursday.
Kleinheisler scored the game's only goal in the 26th minute, taking a touch to control Adam Szalai's pass before whipping the ball home after Norway had created a flurry of chances in a strong opening period.
A draw in the home leg on Sunday will put Hungary into the finals in Francen after years in the wilderness since they qualified for the 1986 World Cup.
"We are happy now after 90 minutes, to win this game, but the second game will be on Sunday. We can't think about celebrating," Hungary coach Bernd Storck said.
"It's a very good job and nothing more -- we have to do a very good job on Sunday," he added.
Norway attacked relentlessly in search of an equaliser but they lacked guile in attack as Hungary's veteran goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly celebrated his 100th cap with a clean sheet.
Norway were denied two second-half penalties for fouls on Omar Elabdellaoui, and coach Per-Mathias Hogmo expressed his dissatisfaction with English referee Mark Clattenburg.
Clattenburg booked the full back for diving for the second incident and turned down an even stronger call for the first when Elabdellaoui went down after having his shirt pulled.
"Clearly a penalty. Crystal clear," Hogmo said. "It's remarkable that an experienced referee didn't see it."
Norway battled on and came close late on, but substitute Pal Andre Helland's header hit the bar and Hogmo now has to rally his players for the second leg in Budapest.
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.
