Austria and Algeria meet, 44 years after a World Cup disgrace To register his protest, a commentator had stopped calling the match. Another told viewers to switch off. Michel Hidalgo had come to take notes but seeing what was happening, the venerable coach didn’t bother. Instead, he said, West Germany and Austria should be given the Nobel Peace Prize.Not long after West Germany’s Horst Hrubesch scored against Austria, the teams stopped playing. (Facebook)Collusion, not contestWest Germany were faster off the blocks in the northern Spain city of Gijon, forcing a slew of corner-kicks. Horst Hrubesch, a late bloomer of a striker whose brace helped West Germany become champions of Europe in 1980, made the early pressure count with an 11th minute goal. Not long after, on June 25, 1982, they stopped playing.Realising that a 0-1 defeat would take both through at Algeria’s expense, the teams reduced a World Cup match to a farce, playing square-passes and back-passes to the goalkeeper (till 1992 you could do that). Algeria had finished their group league engagements one day before so, West Germany and Austria knew what a mutually beneficial outcome would be.Boos ringing in their ears, West Germany and Austria made it to the next round. Algeria, who had beaten West Germany 2-1 and Chile 3-2, were eliminated on goal difference.All three teams finished on four points but West Germany and Austria, who beat Algeria 2-0, had a goal difference of +3 while the North Africans had scored five and shipped as many. Squandering a 3-0 lead against Chile proved disastrous for a team who were the first from the Arab world to beat the reigning European champions.“They shook hands to qualify together,” said Rabah Majder who had scored first against West Germany. No respect for football, nor for the paying fans, said Lakhdar Belloumi who had scored the second after Karl-Heinz Rummenigge’s equaliser.It was after West Germany and Austria had contrived to eliminate Algeria that the last group matches began to be held simultaneously. (@sports_tak on X)Nothing came out of Algeria’s protest but after what came to be known as the disgrace of Gijon, FIFA ensured that last-round matches kick-off simultaneously. Which brings us to Saturday’s (Sunday morning in India) tie between Austria and Algeria in Kansas City. This will be the first meeting between the teams since the 1982 World Cup.Algeria-Austria againBrazil and Morocco playing each other, England and Croatia reprising their 2018 World Cup semi-final and Erling Haaland’s Norway taking on Kylian Mbappe’s France were among the marquee matches in the group stage. So was this match in Group J.Belloumi, among Algerian players of his generation who were not allowed to join clubs in Europe by his country, may not agree but you can be sure that Austria and Algeria’s players and staff would say what happened 44 years earlier is water under the bridge. Like Diego Maradona saying in the build-up to the 1986 quarter-final that it would be only about football.Ironically, given that it is in the last set of matches, Austria and Algeria will know exactly what they need to do to be in the round of 32. Both have three points but again, Algeria have a goal difference of -2 while Austria’s is zero. Four points is likely to ensure progress for both, one of them as best third-placed team of which there will be eight.Ceferin was wrongThe 48-team World Cup has proved Aleksander Ceferin wrong. The UEFA boss had spoken about one-sided matches but after two rounds, 36 teams remained in the fray for 24 spots. In the 32-team finals in 2022, three teams had qualified for the round of 16 after two rounds. That number is seven this time. In Qatar, the number of teams eliminated after two matches were two; this time it is five.So, an expanded competition has not been a walk in the park for all top teams. Uruguay, Belgium, England, Spain, Portugal and Croatia could not seal a knockout round berth after two matches. Semi-finalists once, Turkiye were eliminated as were Tunisia who were unbeaten in the qualifiers and conceded zero goals in 10 matches on their way to the World Cup. South Korea and Senegal may join them. “The more teams you have, the more complex it gets,” said Julian Nagelsmann, Germany’s head coach.The world knows more about Cabo Verde, Vozinha and his mother than it did before June 11. It is aware why Stale Solbaken rushed to kiss his wife after Norway qualified from the group, the struggles of Benjamin Asare and how Curacao dusted off the battering from Germany to get a point against Ecuador. Eloy Room, Asare and Alireza Bierenvand may not be able to walk alone on the streets of Philadelphia, England’s second-match fever has been revisited after Nana Kwaku Bonsam, who calls himself a spiritualist, claimed to have cast a spell on Harry Kane (such stories emerge only from the World Cup).Artist Jose "Joe Skilz" poses for a photo with his mural of Argentina's Lionel Messi in Dallas. (Reuters)Possibility of tame drawsThe tradition of hosts making the second round (only twice, in 2010 and 2022, has that not happened) has been maintained. The race for the golden boot has begun in earnest with Haaland, Mbappe and the peerless Lionel Messi being joined by the ageless Cristiano Ronaldo. And for all the railing on hydration breaks, it is the same for all teams. Like with the strategic timeout in IPL, they are expected to cope with it. Yes, it has made football a game of well, four halves, but even without water breaks, matches spill into 100 minutes meaning teams have tried to stop play and disrupt momentum. Football’s accepted VAR's long delays, no reason to think it won’t get used to this.South Africa reached the knockouts for the first time and after another 3-0 win, Brazil show they mean business. Already eliminated, Haiti pushed Morocco hard. “We lacked humility and paid the price for it,” said Morocco midfielder Bilal El Khannouss.It’s been interesting and entertaining with some spectacular strikes from range. The stands have been 99.6% full with 2.8 million attending the first two rounds. The possibility of tame draws in the third round because it may be enough could take some sheen off it. It’s cheating if you call a truce with 10 minutes to go, said Jason Gera ahead of their match against Paraguay where a draw would suit both. The Australia defender has spoken. Hopefully, everyone will listen.PLAY OF THE WEEKGRAPHICS BY PRIJIT SASHIDHARANSee Less