Algeria 3–3 Austria: Mahrez's 90th-minute leveller seals a six-goal Group J thriller
There are draws that feel like quiet handshakes, and there are draws that leave both sets of supporters wrung out and unsure whether to celebrate or despair. Algeria's 3–3 stalemate with Austria on the final matchday of Group J belonged firmly in the second category. Six goals, two veterans rolling back the years, and a 90th-minute equaliser from Riyad Mahrez that arrived just as Austria thought they had stolen the night — this was a fixture that refused to settle until the very last act, and even then it only settled the scoreline, not the nerves.
By the time the dust cleared, both teams had four points, the same as one another and yet not quite the same standing, with Austria slipping above Algeria on goal difference. It was the kind of evening that summed up tournament football at its most unforgiving and its most thrilling: relentless attacking intent, defensive lapses at both ends, and a result that hinged on moments rather than dominance.
How the night unfolded
Austria struck first and struck early in the run of play, with Marko Arnautović doing what Marko Arnautović has done for the best part of two decades. The 37-year-old, now plying his trade with Red Star Belgrade, peeled off his marker to break the deadlock in the 28th minute, a finish that carried all the calm of a man with 133 caps and 47 international goals to his name. It was his second strike of this World Cup, and it gave Austria the platform they had come looking for.
Algeria, though, refused to let the lead define the half. Right on the stroke of half-time, Hellas Verona defender Mehdi Belghali popped up in the 45th minute to haul his side level. For a 24-year-old centre-back with just 14 caps and a single previous international goal, it was a moment to remember — his first goal of this tournament, and one timed perfectly to send Algeria into the interval with the momentum and the scoreline restored to parity at 1–1.
Whatever equilibrium the break offered did not last. Marcel Sabitzer, the Borussia Dortmund midfielder, restored Austria's advantage in the 55th minute, his first goal of the competition and a reminder of the quality Austria carry in the engine room. At 2–1, with an hour gone, the Europeans looked the more likely to push on.
Then Mahrez took over. Five minutes after Sabitzer's goal, in the 60th minute, the 35-year-old forward levelled matters again, dragging Algeria back to 2–2 with the sort of finish that has defined a 117-cap career and 38 international goals. The Al-Ahli man was not done. As the match crept toward its conclusion and Austria sensed they might yet snatch all three points, the game produced its most chaotic sequence of all.
A stoppage-time twist for the ages
The 90th minute carried two goals, and they came in the order that broke Algerian hearts before mending them. Saša Kalajdžić, the LASK forward, rose to make it 3–2 to Austria — his first goal of the tournament and seemingly the decisive blow. For a fleeting moment Austria had one foot in front, the away support roaring, the clock their friend.
It was Mahrez who answered. Still in that same frantic 90th minute, the Algeria forward struck for the second time on the night to make it 3–3, completing his brace and salvaging a point that had looked, only seconds earlier, to be slipping irretrievably away. Two goals in the span of a single added-time passage is the sort of drama that defines a tournament, and it was fitting that the most experienced man on the pitch had the final, decisive word for Algeria.
For the neutral, it was breathless. For Austria, it was a point that felt like a loss in the instant Mahrez's effort hit the net. For Algeria, it was a rescue act that kept their goal-difference deficit from widening any further on a night when their defence had been opened up three times.
The standout performers
Mahrez was the obvious headline. A brace in a six-goal draw, the second arriving in stoppage time to deny Austria, is the kind of contribution that defines an experienced forward's tournament. At 35, with the wear of 117 caps behind him, he produced the moments his side needed precisely when they needed them, and his two goals here took his tally at this World Cup to a meaningful return.
Belghali deserves a mention of his own. Defenders rarely get the billing, but his 45th-minute equaliser was the moment that kept Algeria in touch with the contest at a point when they could easily have trailed into the break. For a young centre-back, contributing a goal of that significance on this stage is no small thing.
Austria, for their part, will rue not seeing out the win, but they can take heart from the spread of their goals. Arnautović, Sabitzer and Kalajdžić all found the net — a forward, a midfielder and another forward — and the fact that three different players scored speaks to an attack that carried threat from several directions. The frustration is that they conceded three of their own, twice surrendering a lead they had earned.
What it means for Group J
The draw drew the curtain on the group stage with the final standings carrying a familiar shape at the top. Argentina finished first, immaculate with a perfect three wins from three, nine points, eight goals scored and only one conceded — a group won without a stumble. Their place at the summit was never in doubt by the final round.
Behind them, the 3–3 between Algeria and Austria settled the squeeze for the runners-up berth. Austria took second place with four points and a goal difference of zero, edging ahead of Algeria, who also finished on four points but with a goal difference of minus two after their leaky three matches. It was, in the end, the margin between conceding seven and conceding six that separated the two sides in the table, a reminder that in a tight group every goal at the back can matter as much as every goal at the front.
At the bottom, Jordan ended their campaign without a point. Three matches, three defeats, three goals scored and eight conceded left them rooted to the foot of the group and out of the tournament. For Algeria, the head-to-head with Jordan had earlier delivered a 2–1 win away from home, while Austria had beaten the same opponents 3–1 — results that, alongside this draw, kept both teams' qualification hopes intact through to the final whistle.
Our prediction: an honest verdict
This is where we hold ourselves to account. Our pre-match call was Over 2.5 goals, carried at 58% confidence, on the reasoning that Austria's front line was in form and would find a way through eventually. Six goals later, that one lands squarely in the win column. It was a hit. Both teams contributed three apiece, the threshold was cleared before the hour even arrived, and the late flurry merely underlined what the data had hinted at. We will gladly take the ones that go our way, and this was one of them — though we would be the first to admit that the manner of it, two goals inside the 90th minute, owed as much to the chaos of the occasion as to any neat reading of form.
What comes next
With the group settled, attention turns to what lies ahead for both nations. Algeria's schedule points to a trip away to Switzerland, set for 3 July at 8:30 AM IST, the next assignment on their road through the tournament. Austria, meanwhile, are bound for a meeting away to Spain on the same date, 3 July, kicking off at 12:30 AM IST. Two contrasting tests await: Algeria will need to tidy up the defensive frailties that left them shipping seven goals across the group, while Austria will look to carry the cutting edge of Arnautović, Sabitzer and Kalajdžić into a sterner examination.
For now, though, the lasting image of Group J's closing night is Mahrez wheeling away in the 90th minute, a 35-year-old still capable of bending a match to his will. It was not a perfect performance from either side, and the defending will give both head coaches plenty to chew over. But as a spectacle, as a contest that lived and breathed until the final kick, Algeria 3–3 Austria delivered everything a group-stage finale should — drama, jeopardy and a comeback that nobody saw coming until it had already happened.
