Key events
Sam Lewis
How does Group J look going into this final match day?
Unsurprisingly, World Cup holders Argentina enter their last game in first spot with two wins from their opening two games (6 points).
Behind them is Austria (3 points), who sit ahead of Algeria (3 points) only on a goal difference of 2. Jordan, meanwhile, have already been eliminated after losing both of their opening matches (0 points).
As things stand, a draw between Algeria and Austria will see both teams through to the round of 32. The stakes are highest for Algeria, who currently sit just one spot outside the eight best third-placed teams. One more point will shoot them up into the top six of those teams.
If Algeria defeat Austria, however, the latter will suddenly find themselves in that third-placed race where, depending on how many goals they lose by, they can either scrape through or get knocked out.
But there is another question: will either of these teams actually want to finish second? While a third-placed finish could result in a round of 32 match against a patchy Belgium or Switzerland, the runner-up from Group J will have to play Spain in the next stage.
Might Austria try to wriggle out of second spot by deliberately losing to Algeria in order to avoid European Championship holders? Will Algeria grit their teeth and grind out a draw to force Austria into Spain’s path? Or will the history between them eclipse all of that and result in one of the most memorable matches of this World Cup?
Preamble
Sam Lewis
Hello and welcome to the last game of an action-packed final day of the World Cup group stage, which sees Algeria take on Austria. Kick-off for today’s match at Kansas City Stadium will be 9:00pm local time (10pm EDT/3am BST/12pm AEST).
Ever since the World Cup draw was conducted last December, fans of niche football history circled today’s clash between Algeria and Austria.
Why? Because 44 years ago, a World Cup game between these two nations resulted in a rule that would fundamentally shape the future of the sport, including one that affects this very match.
In 1982, at the World Cup in Spain, Algeria won their opening game against West Germany 2-1. They lost the next game to Austria, but beat Chile in their final group clash.
Crucially, that game was played before West Germany played Austria, which gave both European nations an information advantage: they knew that West Germany needed to win by one or two goals in order for both of them to progress.
And so, it came to pass. West Germany scored in the 10th minute, and for the 80+ minutes that followed, both teams simply passed the ball around without really trying to do anything further. As Maher Mezahi writes in this excellent re-telling of that fateful game:
The pretense of honest competition dissolved almost entirely. At one point, Uli Stielike stopped the ball and surveyed the pitch five times before settling on a five-yard pass. Paul Breitner spent 20 unhurried seconds walking laterally with the ball in his own half. The Austria midfielder Reinhold Hintermaier feigned ambition and his theatrical effort sailed 20 yards over, deceiving no one.
The score stood, West Germany and Austria went through to the next round, and Algeria was knocked out.
This game is now famously known as the “Disgrace of Gijon”, and while Fifa didn’t listen to Algeria’s formal complaints at the time, they did implement a new rule requiring that final group-stage matches be played simultaneously to avoid the information advantage that West Germany and Austria benefited from.
Hence why today’s match kicks off at the same time as Group J’s other clash between Jordan and Argentina.
It’s also given some additional intergenerational spice to a game between two nations vying for knock-out football once again. In an incredible coincidence, a draw today could see both teams go through – but whether they’ll want that is a different question entirely.
While we wait for the team sheets, give Mezahi’s yarn a read. It sets the historical scene perfectly for what could be a truly memorable 90 minutes of football.
