Overview
Algeria and Austria will clash directly in the last round of Group J of the 2026 World Cup to compete for a ticket to the 1/16 round as the second team in the group, and at the same time open up the opportunity to avoid strong opponents in the knockout round.
After two legs, both have a fairly similar journey when both defeated Jordan but lost to Argentina by Lionel Messi, who soon won the top spot in the group.
The Austrian team is holding an advantage thanks to a better goal difference, so just a draw is enough to qualify for the next round. Meanwhile, Algeria is aiming for the second time in history to get through the World Cup group stage, after the feat at Brazil in 2014.
After the defeat to Argentina in the opening match, coach Vladimir Petkovic's team reversed the score to defeat Jordan 2-1 thanks to goals from Nadhir Benbouali and Amine Gouiri.
This is the first time Algeria has won a World Cup match after conceding a goal first, and also becomes the first team in history to score 2 goals from corner kicks in the same match at the World Cup.
At the age of 35, Riyad Mahrez continues to prove his leading role when he becomes the oldest player to start for Algeria at the World Cup. Against Jordan, Algeria also set a series of milestones in ball possession (72%), number of passes (641), number of touches in the penalty area (30) and 8 shots on target.
However, the challenge for Algeria is not small when Austria is a team that has never conceded a goal from a corner kick after 19 matches at the World Cup.
On the Austrian side, coach Ralf Rangnick's team needs to quickly forget the 0-2 defeat to Argentina to aim for the first ticket to the next round since the 1954 World Cup.
Despite losing the match, Marcel Sabitzer still marked a memorable milestone with his 100th appearance for the national team, becoming the fifth player in Austrian history to reach this milestone.
Since Rangnick led the national team in 2022, Sabitzer has contributed the most goals (26), had many shots (112), created many chances (62) and belonged to the group of players with the most appearances. This midfielder's experience will continue to be Austria's great hope in the decisive match against Algeria.
Head-to-head record
Algeria and Austria have only met once before, also in the group stage of the 1982 World Cup. At that time, Austria won 2-0 and had their first clean sheet match at the World Cup after a streak of 11 winless matches.
Notably, the 2-1 victory over West Germany at the 1982 World Cup is still the only time Algeria has defeated a European representative at the biggest football festival on the planet. Since then, they have not won any more matches against European opponents at the World Cup, with a record of 3 draws and 5 losses.
Score prediction: Algeria 0-0 Austria
The match between Algeria and Austria takes place at 9:00 AM on June 28 (Vietnam time).
