Algeria and Austria draw a wild 3-3 to reach the last 32 as Iran pay the price

Algeria and Austria served up six goals, two stoppage-time strikes and one of the strangest finishes of the group stage, and when it was over both were through to the round of 32. The 3-3 draw on the final night of Group J suited the pair perfectly, but it carried a cruel twist for a third nation watching on from another city. Iran, who had finished their own group hours earlier, were knocked out the moment Sasa Kalajdzic headed in Austria’s equaliser deep into added time.

Six goals and a frantic finish

Marko Arnautovic put Austria ahead in the 28th minute, running onto a dropping ball from David Alaba and finishing past Oussama Benbot. Algeria levelled before the break through Rafik Belghali, who cut inside from the right and beat Alexander Schlager at his near post. Marcel Sabitzer nudged Austria back in front in the 55th minute, only for Riyad Mahrez to answer five minutes later and make it 2-2.

That looked like the end of the scoring until Mahrez, Algeria’s captain, burst into space behind the Austrian defence in the 93rd minute and drove a low finish into the bottom corner. Austria were suddenly staring at a result they did not need, but the drama was not finished. Three minutes later Kalajdzic, on as a substitute, met a hanging cross from the right with his first touch and headed home to make it 3-3 at the death.

Both through, Iran the casualty

The shared point sent both teams into the knockouts. Austria finished second in the group on goal difference and will meet Spain in the round of 32. Algeria took third and did enough to land among the eight best third-placed sides, setting up a tie with Switzerland. Argentina, who beat Jordan on the same night, won the group with a perfect record.

Iran were the team left to count the cost. They had drawn 1-1 with Egypt in their Group G finale and sat third, needing results elsewhere to creep into the field as one of the best third-placed teams. Had either Austria or Algeria won, Iran would have gone through. The draw handed Algeria the extra point that pushed them above Iran in that calculation, and Kalajdzic’s late header confirmed it.

Ghosts of Gijon, finally laid to rest

The fixture came loaded with history. When these two nations last had their fates intertwined, at the 1982 World Cup, West Germany and Austria played out a 1-0 result in Gijon that sent both through and dumped Algeria out on goal difference, a stitch-up so blatant that FIFA changed the rules to make final group games kick off at the same time. The fear before kick-off was that the modern incentive to avoid Spain might tempt a repeat, with both sides briefly better off losing.

There was nothing arranged about this one. Six goals and two strikes in the dying minutes made for the opposite of a Gijon-style arrangement. Both teams insisted afterwards they had only ever set out to win, and the scoreline backed them up. Forty-four years on, Algeria walked away from a meeting with Austria with their World Cup still alive rather than ended by it.

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