KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Algeria and Austria knew they would both be eliminated if the pedestrian draw took place Saturday night. world cup final tournament.
Instead they produced a thrilling 3-3 draw.
In the wildest end of the group stage, Algeria took the lead in stoppage time, but Austria hit back in the final play of the match, resulting in a win for both teams. heartbreaking loss for Iranwas eliminated from the tournament.
Austrian coach Ralf Rangnick said with a shake of his head, “I’ve been a coach for about 40 years. I don’t remember a game with such dramatic developments and such an unexpected trajectory.” “Even at the start of the game, if someone had said it was going to be 3-3, no one would have believed it. Someone would have won an incredible bet.”
The game was tied at 2-all in the closing minutes, and when Riyad Mahrez scored his second goal of the game, Algeria seemed content to let both teams go ahead as time expired. This nearly eliminated Austria, but Sasa Kalajdzic headed home the equalizer minutes later, saving Das Team’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup.
“It’s crazy in the locker room,” Rangnick said with a smile. “If Alfred Hitchcock had nothing to do with football and didn’t really like football that much, I would say that if he had written a drama like that, he would have been completely mad.”
Marko Arnautovic and Marcel Sabitzer also scored for Austria. They finished second in Group J after Argentina. Their reward is a match against European champions Spain in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Rafik Bergari also scored for Les Fennec. 9th place out of 10 teams from Africa advances. They finished third in their group, but their round of 32 matchup against Switzerland on Thursday night in Vancouver, British Columbia, could be easier.
“I feel very happy,” Mahrez said. “We’re obviously happy. The goal when we arrived was to get through the first round and that’s what we did. We’re all very happy.”
Had Austria or Algeria won, Iran would have advanced to one of the top eight teams in third place. However, when Karadzic scored in stoppage time to equalize the match at the end, it meant that Team Melli were eliminated in heartbreaking fashion.
“When you have three wins and three losses, no one can assume that it was an agreement (to draw),” Rangnick said.
For the first three games of the World Cup at Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs was filled with Argentina’s light blue, Ecuador’s yellow and the Netherlands’ highlight orange. But in the city’s final group game, the Austrians’ Algerian green and red were complemented by thousands of locals happy to have won cheaper World Cup tickets.
However, many local residents seemed to be rooting for Algeria. Algeria has a practice base near Lawrence, Kansas. developed a unique friendship There is a small college town where the University of Kansas is located.
Among Fenech’s new fans, probably few knew about “The Shame of Gijon.”
But longtime Algerian supporters have been waiting 44 years for World Cup revenge against Austria. In the 1982 tournament, Austria and West Germany appeared to be out of the tournament after leading 1-0. As a result, it was certain that both countries would advance at the expense of Algeria. Algeria complained to FIFA to no avail and was eliminated from the World Cup.
Some were curious whether expanding the field to 48 teams would lead to a “Kansas City disgrace,” since it was known at kickoff that both teams would advance with a tie. Instead, Saturday night’s crowd of 69,045 enjoyed more than 90 dramatic minutes.
Austria opened the scoring, with Arnautovic perfectly timed a shot between two Algerian defenders, one-on-one with goalkeeper Osama Benbot, and overcame a stumble to score his country’s record-extending 49th career goal.
Algeria responded just before half-time, with Bergari’s left-footed shot easily beating Austrian goalkeeper Alexander Schlager.
The frenetic pace continued early in the second half on a hot night in Kansas City.
Not satisfied with the 1-1 draw, Austria’s Konrad Reimer sent a sharp pass down the field, which Sabitzer scored to restore the lead and give Iran hope. Algeria hit back a few minutes later, with Mahrez scoring from Houssem Aouar’s perfect cross.
The game remained 2-2 until the end, when Algeria began to keep away as the excited crowd began to jeer and whistle. But just when it looked like it would be the end, Mahrez and Kalajzic ended the World Cup group stage in memorable fashion.
“I think the game was a little bit crazy, it was kind of beyond everyone’s patience,” Algeria coach Vladimir Petkovic said. “Let’s celebrate the promotion. Let’s rest so to speak and start again for the next round.”
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