Austria against Algeria at the 2026 World Cup: Is there a risk of the “disgrace of Kansas City”?

Eon a weekday in Lawrence, a small town near Kansas City, where the Algerian national team is quartered: The players are completing another session on the sports fields of the local university when a grim steward hustles the local media representatives towards the exit: Time is up, everyone is out. And then: looks of astonishment among the Algerians when they see two colleagues who are not otherwise part of the well-known travel group. Initial inquiries are made: Are they Austrians?

How much is there actually a debate over there in Europe about this game back in 1982, about the famous disgrace of Gijón? About the non-aggression pact at the World Cup in Spain, through which Austria and Germany achieved exactly the result (1-0 for Germany) on the last day of the group match that both teams needed to advance? At the expense of the Algerians, who had the same number of points and were helpless to avoid an early group exit? Algeria, of all places, which Austria will now face in the preliminary round of this World Cup.

To the disappointment of the Algerian media representatives, it had to be announced that the foreign colleagues were in no way Austrian. But yes, “the shame of Gijón”, as the Algerians say, is also an issue again in Europe. And consequently also the “disgrace of Kansas City”, which, if you believe some prophecies, can be expected on Monday night (4 a.m.). In any case, fate – with the help of FIFA’s planning authorities – brings an almost amusing starting position for the last matchday of Group J: Algeria and Austria are in second place (Austria) and third place (Algeria) behind defending champion Argentina with three points each before their direct duel. Austria has a balanced goal difference, Algeria has minus two goals.

“You can’t go into a game with the intention that you’ll draw,” says Ralf Rangnick

That means: In the event of a draw, Austria would certainly be second and qualified for the round of 16, as would Algeria, third in the group with four points. Because Group J starts last, both teams – unlike the competition in the other groups – will know at kick-off what result they need to advance. Even better: Because all other groups have finished beforehand, both Algeria and Austria know which team they would face in the next round depending on the outcome of their duel.

Would it then perhaps even be worthwhile to finish the table behind the other? The second group will face Spain in the round of 16 – and therefore potentially a more difficult opponent than the third group (possible include Belgium, Switzerland and England). Although: This thought game, if at all, is likely to concern Algeria, which would remain third in the event of a draw, but would still be safely through with four points. The Austrians can only slip into third place through a defeat – but then they would only have three points in their account and would run a high risk of being completely eliminated from the comparison of all third-placed teams.

Nevertheless, all of these scenarios are currently being passionately discussed between the Alps and Algeria, not least because Fifa introduced a change in the format in response to the disgrace in Gijón: In order to prevent distortions of competition, the last match day of a group was from now on scheduled at the same time. The problem was largely solved, but even before the field of participants was expanded, everything didn’t always go perfectly: at the 2018 World Cup, a draw in the last game was enough for France and Denmark to advance. Also in 2018, when the score was 0-1 against Poland, Japan stopped any offensive efforts as soon as Senegal was behind against Colombia – the Japanese knew that they had two fewer yellow cards than Senegal and their own narrow defeat at these scores was enough to advance.

And there have already been similar cases in the current tournament, which Austria’s team boss Ralf Rangnick immediately recalled at the press conference on Saturday: The 0-0 draw between Paraguay and Australia on Friday was enough for both teams to advance. A humorous question-and-answer session developed, most of which was about just one topic: a possible disgrace for Kansas City.

Rangnick: Nobody knows what will happen “if there are only five to ten minutes left to play”.

In any case, Rangnick dismissed all inquiries about this. Would his Austrians throw everything in? “You can’t go into a game with the intention that you’ll draw,” said Rangnick. However, no one knows what will happen “if there are only five to ten minutes left to play”. Securing results and table positions has always existed.

Is his team planning not to win in order to avoid the Spaniards in the round of 16? “No, we’re not planning,” replied Rangnick. Did his players ever hear about the disgrace of Gijón? None of his players had already been born then, replied Rangnick. And the fact that he himself moved to SSV Ulm at the age of 24 shows “how long ago it all was.” It sounded similar to Algeria’s coaching colleague Vladimir Petkovic: Draw? Oh wow, we want to win!

It seems clear: a dull, unambitious ball-pushing would be received accordingly by the public. The Austrian Standard There was recently even a clear warning: “If the heirs of the perpetrators or victims of the disgrace in Gijón were to play against victory in the last game,” it was written there, then it would be “the most absurd joke in football history.”