Algeria and Austria will go head to head in Group J on Saturday night as one of the final pair of group stage games at the World Cup.
That means that both sides will know exactly what result they need to make it through to the knockout stage of the competition, either by finishing second in the group (Argentina are already guaranteed top spot) or finishing as one of the eight best third-placed sides.
The way things have shaken out, in fact, Austria and already knew for certain that there is a way for them to both go through, with four points definitely enough to guarantee progress - and to those who know the history between these two sides, that's very funny indeed.
The Disgrace of Gijon still felt after 44 years
You see, there was a similar situation at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. This was back in the days before the final set of games in each group were played in simultaneous kick-offs.
The top two sides in each group went through that year, with two points available for a win. The sides that finished third and fourth went out.
In the final game in group 2, it lined up so that if third-placed West Germany beat group-topping Austria by fewer than three goals, both sides would go through to the knockout stage. Anything else, and one of them would be going home.
You can probably guess what happened next. And you'd be absolutely bang on the money.
Horst Hrubesch gave West Germany a 1-0 lead after 10 minutes, effectively moving his side to the top of the table with Austria in second.
That was basically all that happened all game long. Remember that the backpass rule was ten years away from being brought into effect, and so the goalkeeper could just pick up the ball if it was passed back to him - which they did a lot. Both sides showed little effort to do anything else, particularly after half time. Every shot they did take was wildly off target. To all appearances, that fix was in.
And the side that missed out as a result? Algeria, who had pulled off an enormous upset to beat West Germany in their opening game.
Pos | Team | Pld | GD | Pts (2 for a win) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Austria | 2 | +3 | 4 |
2 | Algeria | 3 | 0 | 4 |
3 | West Germany | 2 | +2 | 2 |
4 | Chile | 3 | -5 | 0 |
For context: an African side had never beaten a European nation at the World Cup ever before.
So for them to go out through the blatant enactment of a mutually convenient result rankled not just with the Algerians, but drew the harshest possible condemnation from the rest of the world.
German and Austrian commentators slammed their teams, telling viewers to change channel. The German bus was greeted back at the team hotel by angry fans who chucked eggs at the bus; hilariously, the players apparently responded with water bombs. Quite why they had water bombs on the bus is anyone's guess.
The whole affair became known as the Disgrace of Gijon, and is exactly why FIFA changed things later on to ensure the final pair of group games would kick off simultaneously.
So there's something poetic about the fact that Austria and Algeria could now do the exact same thing. A draw would put them both through. Even an Austrian win by a small enough margin could do the trick.
Might Algeria finally get a bit of closure after 44 years?
