Algeria 3 Austria 3 – „A Unentschieden is a Sieg für Österreich“

June 28, 2026 at 3:02 pm Leave a comment

The saying by Austrian actor and author Helmut Qualtinger (+1986) that “a draw is a win for Austria” has never been more true: Austria produced an incredible finish against Algeria and secured the point they needed to reach the World Cup knockout stages – together with Algeria and eliminating Iran.

Austria – who led twice – were heading out when Riyad Mahrez scored his second of the game to put Algeria 3-2 ahead in the 93rd minute.

Austria and Algeria had gone into this match knowing a draw would take them both through, but in this match there was no sense of a repeat of the ‘Disgrace of Gijon’. With 3-2 Algeria would have not only gone through to the knock-out stages of the World Cup, but would have denied Austria, the country forever intertwined in their history because of that infamous match at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, when West Germany beat Austria 1-0 in a group match, where both teams went through at the expense of Algeria.

But then Sasa Kalajdzic headed an equaliser in 96th-minute – two minutes more than was allotted – just 61 seconds after coming off the bench to secure a point in the most dramatic of finales of this Group J meeting. The goal sparked dramatic scenes of celebration among the Austria contingent in Kansas City.

In snatching that late 3-3 draw, Austria became the first team to avoid defeat in a World Cup match having fallen behind after the 90-minute mark. Victory means that Austria will play Spain on Thursday, 2 July.