Kansas City Stadium hosts 44-year old World Cup grudge match

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The final group stage match played in Missouri will settle a rivalry with more than four decades of history.

Back in the 1982 World Cup, Austria and West Germany were set to play the final match of their group. Since the other teams in the groups had already finished the competition, the Austrians knew they would be advancing, while the Germans needed a victory to earn a spot in the next round.

West Germany struck in the opening stages of the match, to take a 1-0 lead. But despite falling behind, Austria made no efforts to tie the game, and eventually accepted the defeat. Because the Germans were now through, Algeria was the team eliminated from the tournament due to the Austrians' actions.

"We all grew up, you know, our parents telling us that there was this, shame of region in, in Spain back in '82 when there was a match fixing between Austria and Germany, which was, in my opinion, a shameful event," said Algerian fan Anis Kadri

Today, the final matches of the group stage are all played at the same time, so no side knows the exact results required to advance ahead of time because of the 1982 controversy later dubbed, "Disgrace of Gijón."

44 years later, the two sides will meet for the first time in the World Cup since that tournament in the final round of the group stage, with both sides at risk of elimination. But even with decades of history, the Algerian faithful would rather lose in a competitive game, than advance with a drawn out tie.

"I'd rather lose scoring goals like a 5-4 something like that than to have a 0-0 like a draw when I had to draw ahead a win," said Mouloud Mehadji, another Algerian fan who made the trip to Missouri for the match. We don't hold grudges. At the end of the day, we're here to have fun. We're here to enjoy. We have a good time."

If Algeria were to advance, it would just be the second time in the country's history that they would make it to the knockout rounds.

"I think it'd be a great honor for the Algerian people, especially the ones that have made the trip all the way here," said Kadri. "It'd be great for them to, you know, see their team qualify and maybe go far in this tournament."