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Algeria 3-3 Austria: ranking gap meant nothing

By Zach Nichols·Jun 27, 2026·

Algeria and Austria served up a six-goal Group J thriller, drawing 3-3 as Sasa Kalajdzic headed home at 90+6 to deny a late Riyad Mahrez winner for the Desert Foxes.

What was the final score of Algeria vs Austria?

Algeria 3, Austria 3. A Group J meeting between two sides separated by just four places in the FIFA rankings produced exactly the kind of fine-margin chaos that small gap promised, and the single most important takeaway is that neither side could land a decisive blow: Riyad Mahrez looked to have won it for Algeria at 90+3, only for Sasa Kalajdzic to head Austria level at 90+6.

It finished even because the match was even. The teams traded the lead through the night, with Austria in front 1-0 and 2-1 at different stages and Algeria responding each time before nosing ahead for the first and only time deep into stoppage time. Half-time arrived at 1-1, and the closing seconds restored that symmetry on the scoreboard.

Six goals, three apiece, and two assists each for the standout creators on either side: this was a contest decided not by class but by the last touch of the night.

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Did the four-place ranking gap show on the pitch?

This is the heart of the story. Austria sat 24th in the FIFA rankings and Algeria 28th, a gap of four places, and the pre-match title odds nudged Austria ahead at 1% to Algeria's 0.4%. On paper that is a coin-flip dressed up as a favourite, and the scoreline honoured the maths almost to the letter.

A 3-3 draw is what a narrow ranking gap is supposed to look like when both sides are good enough to hurt each other and neither is good enough to pull clear. Austria twice found the front foot, through Marko Arnautovic and Marcel Sabitzer, and twice Algeria hauled themselves back. There was no passage of play in which the supposed gulf in pedigree translated into control.

If anything, the result quietly flatters the idea that Austria were favourites. Algeria, ranked lower and rated a long shot, were the side leading in the 93rd minute. The margin between 24th and 28th in the world, on this evidence, is no margin at all.

How did Algeria twice come from behind?

Algeria's first equaliser arrived right on the stroke of half-time. After Alexander Schlager had pushed away an Ibrahim Maza effort at 44', Rafik Belghali levelled at 45' with a left-footed finish from the centre of the box into the top-right corner, wiping out Arnautovic's 28th-minute opener and sending the sides in level.

The second response was the work of the night's most dangerous partnership. With Austria back in front through Sabitzer at 55', Houssem Aouar slipped in Riyad Mahrez at 60', and the captain swept a left-footed shot into the top-right corner. Schlager had already denied Farès Chaïbi at 54', but he had no answer to Mahrez.

Then came the moment Algeria thought had won it. In the 93rd minute Aouar threaded another through ball for Mahrez, who this time used his right foot to roll the ball into the bottom-left corner for 3-2. Two assists for Aouar, a brace for Mahrez, and a lead that lasted barely three minutes.

What did Austria's substitutions and stoppage-time equaliser say?

Austria reshaped aggressively, making a triple change at half-time and turning to their bench repeatedly as the game opened up. The decisive contribution came from the very last roll of the dice: Kalajdzic, introduced at 90+5, headed home just a minute later from Michael Gregoritsch's headed pass to make it 3-3.

That goal told its own story about the evening's margins. Austria refused to accept defeat even after conceding in the 93rd minute, and a target man thrown on for the final seconds delivered precisely the aerial threat the situation demanded. For a side billed as the relentless pressers of Group J, it was a reward for persistence rather than dominance.

Arnautovic, booked at 11' before his goal, was withdrawn at the interval as Austria refreshed their forward line, and the bench ultimately produced both the assist and the finish for the equaliser. Austria's changes, not their starters, salvaged the point.

Who were the standout performers in Algeria 3-3 Austria?

Riyad Mahrez was the headline act for Algeria, scoring twice and threatening throughout, with his second a stoppage-time strike that briefly looked decisive. He also turned creator at 54', setting up the Chaïbi attempt that Schlager saved, underlining how much of Algeria's danger ran through him.

Houssem Aouar was the supply line, providing both assists for Mahrez, the second a through ball that carved Austria open in the 93rd minute. Rafik Belghali's clean half-time finish and Maza's earlier saved effort showed the threat was not Mahrez alone.

For Austria, Marcel Sabitzer's strike from outside the box, assisted by Konrad Laimer, was the pick of their goals, while Kalajdzic's late header earned the point. Alexander Schlager kept his side in it with saves from Maza and Chaïbi at moments when Algeria might have pulled away.

What does the 3-3 draw mean for Group J?

Both Algeria and Austria leave with a share of the spoils, a result that keeps the group finely poised given how little separated the two on the rankings. For a fixture between the 24th and 28th-ranked sides in the world, a shared outcome reads as the fair one.

Algeria, back at the World Cup after missing 2022, will take heart from leading one of Europe's organised sides in stoppage time and from the form of Mahrez and Aouar. The frustration is obvious: a winning position surrendered in the 96th minute is a hard point to lose.

Austria will feel the opposite emotion, having clawed back a draw from a losing position at the death. On a night when the ranking gap promised a close contest, the scoreboard delivered one, and neither side could claim the margin truly favoured them.

Teams in this story

Algeria Austria