By Dr. Talal Othman
In a football night full of excitement and tension, the national teams of Algeria and Austria secured their qualification tickets to the Round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup, following a thrilling 3-3 draw in the final matchday of Group 10. The match, hosted in Kansas City, was filled with dramatic twists until the very last seconds.Austria strikes first… Algeria respondsMarco Arnautović opened the scoring for Austria in the 28th minute. Rifik Belghali restored balance for the "Desert Warriors" just before the end of the first half. Early in the second half, Marcel Sabitzer gave Austria the lead again, but Algeria quickly responded as captain Riyad Mahrez scored the equaliser in the 60th minute, reigniting hope for his team.Mahrez… the man of the final momentsIn stoppage time, Mahrez once again stole the spotlight by scoring his second goal of the match (Algeria’s third), putting his team on the brink of a historic victory. However, the drama was not over. Just two minutes later, Sasa Kalajdzic equalised for Austria, securing the European team’s survival in the tournament at the last moment.Group standings… and a new historic qualificationBoth teams finished with 4 points. Austria took second place on goal difference, while Algeria finished third. Nevertheless, the Algerian team qualified as one of the best eight third-placed teams from the 12 groups.With this result, the "Greens" became the ninth African team to reach the knockout stages in this edition of the World Cup, and the third Arab team to do so after Morocco and Egypt.Round of 32 Fixtures
- Algeria vs Switzerland – July 3 in Vancouver (a tough match against the Group 2 leaders).
- Austria vs Spain – July 2 in Los Angeles (a pure European clash against the continental champions).
