Austria and Algeria have both insisted they will be going for a victory when the two teams face off on Saturday, despite other results potentially being more beneficial to their knockout round draw.
By the time Austria and Algeria begin their Group J finale, both will know how the knockout bracket looks, and what the consequences will be for finishing second or third behind group winners Argentina.
The way the bracket is set up, the Group J runner-up faces the Group H winner, which could be reigning European champions Spain. But the third-place finisher would face the Group B winner, which means a potentially easier matchup against Switzerland.
Austria and Algeria both go into the game on three points, with Austria in second place on goal difference. A draw would almost certainly be enough for both teams to advance.
Asked if he wanted his team to avoid winning, Austria coach Ralf Rangnick replied: “No, definitely not.”
“Once we start we will know,” Rangnick said at a news conference Friday, “but it will not influence our match. … If we have a draw tomorrow, we can go on, but we cannot go into a match and just say, ‘We’ll play for a draw.'”
Algeira coach Vladimir Petkovic, whose team need to win to take second spot, shared a similar message, denying his side would rather draw than win the game in order to avoid Spain.
“There is no ‘if’ or ‘but’ in football, we have to face our opponents always the same way, with a strong desire to perform well and a great will to win,” he said.
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“We’ll see what happens after the match, but to advance and realize our ambitions we must first earn it by trying to win the game.”
In 1982, in what became known as the “Disgrace of Gijon,” West Germany beat Austria 1-0, a result that advanced both teams over Algeria. Both teams seemed to quit trying after the first goal was scored, leading FIFA to implement simultaneous kickoffs on the final day of group play.
“My players — if they knew anything about this at all — probably read about it in the newspaper over the last few days, weeks, or months,” Rangnick said of that infamous game. “But I don’t think it will have any impact on tomorrow’s game or on what will happen here in the stadium tomorrow.”
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Added Austria midfielder Konrad Laimer: “We go out, we want to win the game. It doesn’t matter who we face.”
Both Algeria and Austria have already lost to Argentina and defeated Jordan, who are already eliminated.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
