While Argentina had already settled the top spot in Group J, there was still all to play for between Austria and Algeria and a tightening third place table led to one of the best finishes in World Cup history.
ARGENTINA 3, JORDAN 1
La Albiceleste had already clinched by virtue of their head-to-head wins over Austria and Algeria, and played a heavily rotated side. Not that it was going to matter, as a first-half free kick from Giovanni Lo Celso and a penalty kick from Lautaro Martinez had them well on their way to sweeping the group stage.
Jordan, however, got one back ten minutes after the halftime restart when substitute Mousa Al-Tamari slammed home a sliding back post effort from a Ehsan Haddad cross.
Argentina, however, did a very cruel thing and inserted Messi, Thiago Almada, and Alexis Mac Allister at the hour mark to help close out the game. Messi obliging with a rather tame free kick, and for the second time today some rather questionable positioning from Jordanian keeper Yazeed Abulaila allowed the set-piece goal.
But full credit to The Chivalrous Ones on their debut as they were a lively opponent at the bottom of Group J. They scored in every match, never got blown out, but also are still clearly a step below at this level.
ALGERIA 3, AUSTRIA 3
Okay, so yes, Rafik Belghali and Riyad Mahrez traded goals with Marko Arnautovic and Marcel Sabitzer in the regulation 90 minutes.
No one cares, we go straight to stoppage time.
There were 110 (yes, 110!) passes in the build-up to Riyad Mahrez's goal for Algeria last night.
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) June 28, 2026
Algeria had the ball in continuous possession for over 5 minutes 😂
Clearly didn't get the message that a draw would have been fine for both pic.twitter.com/AsCDq4RIfN
Yes, that is Algeria working the ball at midfield for like 5 minutes before springing Mahrez for his brace and taking the lead.
The lead would last all of a handful of seconds as Sasa Kalajdzic headed home off of Michael Gregoritsch's header from the endline back across goal to restore parity and getting both teams through into the knockouts.
Austria was SECONDS away from elimination before the Sasa Kalajdzic equalizer to send them to the Knockout Round! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/uq4EqreF8I
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) June 28, 2026
GROUP OVERVIEW
About what we expected out of this group, not a whole lot separates the two middle teams in the end.
Argentina's reward for topping the group is a match against second-place finisher Cape Verde on July 3rd. Runner-up Austria on goal difference will face Spain on July 2nd while third place finisher Algeria will play Group B winner Switzerland in the nightcap on July 2nd.
