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ElbertoHokie
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Interesting side quest happened yesterday in WC yesterday.

Algeria and Austria faced off in final group stage game. If Algeria didn't lose the game, they were through. If Austria drew or won, they were through. It's almost full time and both teams are 2 to 2 and playing pass back and forth with no threat. It looks like they've both accepted a draw and both go in(at the expense of Iran). Then in the 92' Algerian star Mahrez makes a run and the ball if passed incisively into the defense with a great through ball to Mahrez for the goal. Totally catching the Austrian's off guard. There's a dark history between the two teams. In 1982, the WC was played in spain and the final game of a group was played between W. Germany and Austria. The other group game had already been played earlier that day and both teams(Austria and W Germany) needed a certain outcome to both go through. They clearly talked before the game and agreed on the outcome. W. Germany scored early and both teams just passed the ball back and forth for the remainder of the 90 minutes. Assuring W. Germany and Austria qualified. The team that was the victim of this arrangement? Algeria. Speculation is that Algeria did that to Austria on purpose last night as revenge. Austria scrambled to sub players on and scored again with ~20 seconds left in the game to tie it up again and ultimately advanced. The W. Germany v Austria game is colloquially referred to as the Disgrace of Gijon. That game alone made FIFA play all of the last group stage matches simultaneously so that matches couldn't be fixed like that anymore. It's one of the many black marks on World Football. While FIFA usually is the main protagonist in this, two countries(one of them a world football powerhouse) created one of the more horrible spectacles and have been jeered about it ever since.
Posted: 06/28/2026 at 02:01 PM ET

Thread Replies (4)

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Interesting side quest happened yesterday in WC yesterday.
ElbertoHokie 06/28/26 02:01 PM ET
Interesting that an ethnic Serb scored the tie goal for Austria. Gavrilo
HwoodHokie 06/28/26 05:38 PM ET
Speaking of the WC, when does Team USA play next?**
EDGEMAN 06/28/26 02:08 PM ET
Wednesday.**
ElbertoHokie 06/28/26 02:15 PM ET
Thanks! 7:45 pm Wednesday. DVR is set.**
EDGEMAN 06/28/26 02:17 PM ET