Algeria come from behind to sink Jordan and keep their World Cup alive
Substitute Nadhir Benbouali and Amine Gouiri headed in two late corners as Algeria recovered from a goal down to beat Jordan 2-1, ending the debutants’ tournament and setting up a Group J decider with Austria.
Jun 23, 2026
For an hour in Santa Clara, Jordan looked like they might author the upset of their young World Cup history. Then Algeria found two corners, two headers, and a way out. The 2-1 comeback win overnight sent the tournament debutants home and dragged Algeria back into the fight for a place in the knockouts.
Jordan, at their first World Cup, had every reason to believe. They led at the break and defended it well into the second half. Algeria needed something from nothing, and set pieces gave it to them.
Al-Rashdan’s moment, then the squeeze
The goal that put Jordan ahead was worth the occasion. On 36 minutes Nizar Al-Rashdan worked the ball onto his right foot on the edge of the box and bent an outside-of-the-boot finish low into the far corner, the kind of strike that silences a stadium expecting an Algerian procession.
Algeria had the better of the play but kept running into their own wastefulness. Riyad Mahrez was the chief culprit, spurning two clear openings that, on another night, end the contest early. The longer Jordan held firm, the more nervous the favourites looked.
Two corners turn the night
The breakthrough came from the dead ball. On 68 minutes Mahrez, quiet from open play, swung in a corner that substitute Nadhir Benbouali rose to head home. From there the momentum only went one way. With eight minutes left Amin Hadj Moussa delivered another corner and Amine Gouiri climbed highest to nod in the winner, sparking wild scenes on the Algeria bench.
Jordan had no answer in the closing stages. Two games, two defeats, and their first World Cup is up before the final round, with only a dead rubber against Argentina left to play. The points column stays empty, but Al-Rashdan’s goal and the manner of their resistance will travel home with them.
Algeria still have it all to do
This was not qualification, only survival. The win lifts Algeria onto three points, level with Austria, in a group Argentina have already won after Lionel Messi’s record-breaking brace saw off the Austrians. Second place, and the round of 32 with it, now comes down to one game.
Algeria meet Austria on Saturday in what is effectively a play-off, both sides knowing a win almost certainly takes them through and a defeat likely sends them out. After the limp opening loss to Argentina, the comeback against Jordan at least gives Algeria a pulse going into it. They will need to be far sharper in front of goal than they were here, where only the set-piece routine saved them.