KANSAS CITY (AP) — Austria and Algeria signed an emphatic 3-3 draw Saturday that benefited both sides late in the group stage. world championship. The result secured both teams a spot in the playoffs and eliminated Iran from the tournament.
The game ended 2-2 and Algeria seemed happy with the result, but captain Riyad Mahrez scored his second goal of the game about a minute before the end of stoppage time. The score put Austria on the brink of elimination, but Sasa Kalajdzic equalized again moments later with a header that saved Das Team’s World Cup hopes.
Marko Arnautovic and Marcel Sabitzer also scored goals for the team. Austria, runners-up in Group J, behind Argentina to reach the knockout stage for the first time since 1982. Their prize will be a showdown with European champions Spain next Thursday in Los Angeles.
Rafik Belgali also scored for Le Fennec, who became the ninth of 10 African teams to advance to the next stage. They finished third in their group and will face Switzerland in the round of 16 on Thursday in Vancouver.
Iran would have qualified for one of the top eight third places if it had beaten Austria or Algeria. But Kalajdzic’s final goal marked a heartbreaking end to Iran’s journey to this World Cup.
The first three games of the World Cup in Kansas City painted the Chiefs’ home in Argentina blue, Ecuador yellow and Holland orange. But at the end of the group stage, Algeria’s greens and Austria’s reds were accompanied by thousands of local fans, happy to have found an affordable ticket.
Many local fans rooted for Algeria, which has its training headquarters in nearby Lawrence, Kansas, and established a unique friendship with a small town headquarters of the University of Kansas.
Few new Le Fennec fans are likely to know about The Shame of Gijon.
However, Algerian fans have been waiting for the World Cup rematch for 44 years. At Spain 1982, Austria and West Germany virtually stopped playing after Germany took a 1-0 lead as the result gave both teams a ticket to the next stage at the expense of Algeria, who lodged an unsuccessful protest with FIFA and were eliminated from the World Cup.
Some were curious to see if expanding the World Cup to 48 teams would result in a “Kansas City embarrassment” since both knew from the start that a draw would take them to the next stage. Instead, 69,045 spectators witnessed the full drama of the fight.
Austria struck first when Arnautovic perfectly received a pass filtered between two Algerian defenders and went one-on-one with goalkeeper Oussama Benbot before scoring his 49th goal in his national team shirt to extend his record.
Algeria responded seconds before the break when Belgali easily beat Austria goalkeeper Alexander Schlager with his left foot.
The frantic pace continued in the second half.
Not satisfied with the 1-1 scoreline, Austrian Konrad Laimer delivered a pinpoint cross that Sabitzer sent into the back of the net to restore Austria’s lead and Iran’s hopes. But Algeria responded minutes later with Mahrez finishing home Houssem Aouar’s perfect cross.
Algeria took control in the final period, retaining possession. But just when it looked like both teams were glad time had run out, Mahrez and Kalajdzic gave them fireworks in stoppage time.
___
See more AP World Cup coverage here.