Nothing about this match was simple. Algeria led twice, Austria fought back twice. Algeria took the lead for a third time deep in stoppage time and appeared certain to defeat Austria — until the 96th minute, when substitute Sasa Kalajdzic rose to head home at the back post and drag Austria back from the depths. Three-three. Absolute pandemonium at the Kansas City Stadium, Kansas City. Both teams advance to the Round of 32. Football at its most chaotic and most glorious, played out across six goals and a finale that nobody inside the stadium will forget in a hurry.
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Austria Strike First
The match didn’t break open until the 28th minute. David Alba delivered a pinpoint long ball over the Algerian backline, and Marko Arnautović — reading the flight perfectly — beat the offside trap, recovered from a slight stumble, and slotted it past goalkeeper Oussama Benbot. Clean technique from a player who makes those moments look straightforward even when they are not.
Algeria responded with real urgency. Ibrahim Maza jinked into the box in the 36th minute, but his touch took him wide, and his effort struck the side-netting. Minutes later, Fares Chaibi unleashed a 20-yard thunderbolt from distance that rattled the post. The woodwork, not Schlager, had kept Algeria out twice in four minutes.
The equaliser was bizarre in the best possible way. In first-half stoppage time, the ball rebounded off the corner flag in a completely unexpected direction and fell to Rafik Belghali. He composed himself, beat one defender, and blasted a left-footed strike over Alexander Schlager. One-one at the break. This was not going to be a quiet second half.
A Second Half of Constant Drama
Austria retook the lead in the 55th minute with a goal built entirely on movement and precision. Konrad Laimer slid a brilliant low pass across the edge of the penalty area, perfectly weighted for Marcel Sabitzer arriving at pace. Sabitzer’s first-time strike — low, hard, unerring — gave Benbot no chance. 2–1 Austria. It looked, briefly, as though the structure of the match had been settled.
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Five minutes later, Algeria had it back. Houssem Aouar, dangerous every time he received the ball on the left, cut inside and threaded a perfectly weighted cross through the penalty area. Captain Riyad Mahrez arrived at the back post and tapped it home. Two-all. Neither side looked like settling for a point.
Stoppage Time Chaos
Then came the madness. In the 90th plus three, Aouar spotted the space behind the Austrian backline and slipped a through ball into Mahrez’s run with the precision of a player who has been doing this at the highest level for over a decade. Mahrez took one touch, steadied, and finished low into the corner. Three-two. The Algerian bench erupted. Austria looked done.
Then the 96th minute arrived. A desperate Austrian long ball into the box. Michael Gregoritsch nodded it down. Substitute Sasa Kalajdzic — all power and timing — rose at the back post and buried a header into the bottom corner. The Austrian fans erupted. The Algerians crumpled. Three-three. The whistle followed almost immediately. Both teams had survived. And both deserved to be in the Round of 32.
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Where Both Teams Stand
Austria finished second in Group J and faces European champions Spain in Los Angeles on Thursday. That is as difficult a Round of 32 draw as exists in this competition — but a team that fights back from 3–2 in the 96th minute is a team that believes in itself.
Algeria advances as one of the best third-placed teams and travels to Vancouver to face Switzerland on Friday. They played some of the most entertaining football of the entire group stage tonight in Kansas City, and a commitment to attack that never wavered, even when the scoreline demanded caution. This group stage is over. The knockout stage begins.
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