How Algeria, Austria advanced to World Cup knockout stage with dramatic draw to end group play

When the dust settled at Arrowhead Stadium, the rare circumstance where two teams before a knockout stage advanced from the same game. Both Algeria and Austria finished as the second and third-place teams in Group J, with their points and goal differentials deemed worthy of admittance into the Round of 32. 

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The knockout-stage picture changed six separate times in Saturday night’s match between Algeria and Austria. When Austria opened up the scoring, Algeria was eliminated from the World Cup since they needed a draw or better to advance. «The Fennecs» of Algeria continued to equalize shortly after the Austrians pulled ahead.

At one point, Algeria led this match 3-2, which, if the result had held, would have eliminated Austria from the Round of 32. Austria needed a draw or a win to remain in second place in Group J, and needed late-game heroics to salvage the country’s World Cup hopes.

Here’s why both teams playing in the last game of the group stage qualified for the Round of 32.

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How Algeria advanced to World Cup knockout stage

When Austria’s Marcel Sabitzer scored to put the Europeans up 2-1, Algeria had to act fast. The African side needed to draw or win in order to emerge as one of the eight best third-place teams in the tournament. Five minutes after Sabitzer, Algerian star Riyad Mahrez ran down the right wing and into the box. What happened next was a moment that will live in Algerian World Cup lore.

Here is Mahrez’s goal to put Algeria back on level with Austria:

IT’S TIED AGAIN 🇩🇿

Captain Riyad Mahrez finds the equalizer! pic.twitter.com/BDjlXnJ3bN

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— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 28, 2026

Mahrez was not done just yet, though. In the 93rd minute, the former Leicester City and Manchester City winger delivered a goal to put his team on top of Das Team («The Team») and at the moment, relegated Austria out of the tournament.

Riyad Mahrez DELIVERS IN STOPPAGE TIME FOR ALGERIA 🇩🇿 pic.twitter.com/hVmBMLtLHq

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 28, 2026

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How Austria advanced to World Cup knockout stage

Despite Algeria only needing a tie to advance to the Round of 32 as a third-place team, «The Fennecs» took a late 3-2 lead in the final group-stage game. For a couple of minutes, Austria, who entered the match as the second-place team of Group J, was set to be eliminated from the knockout stage. 

Due to the fact that Iran, a third-place team that also had three points, had a better goal differential than Austria, the Middle Eastern side would have earned the final third-place spot in the Round of 32. In the 96th minute of play, substitute Sasa Kalajdzic took a total of two touches for the entirety of the game, but of utmost importance, those two touches were. One of those was a header into the back of Algeria’s net to salvage a 3-3 draw at the game’s death.

Here is Kalajdzic’s tournament-saving goal for Austria:

CHAOS IN KANSAS CITY 🤯

AUSTRIA BACK ON LEVEL TERMS LATE IN STOPPAGE TIME 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/jYoWK3kmNv

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 28, 2026

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World Cup Group J standings

After all four teams played their three Group J matches, including a wild ending in the Algeria vs. Austria game, here is how the final table shaped up:

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• Q = Qualified to Knockout Stage
• E = Eliminated