How 60 seconds of madness in Austria-Algeria game ended Iran’s World Cup
3 min readUpdated: Jun 28, 2026 12:37 PM IST “I don’t know, we did our best, but the rest is from God. I hope God gives us a little bit of luck,” is what Ramin Rezaeian said in an emotional post-match interview that he gave after Iran’s breathless 1-1 draw against Egypt that left their fate hanging by a thread. On Sunday, that thread snapped, but not before briefly, and rather cruelly, opening a tantalisingly small window through which Iran could see their place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup round of 32 just for a few seconds. There was only one way for both Algeria and Austria to go through to the round of 32 and that was if the match between them, one of two final group stage games of this World Cup, ended in a draw. Austria went ahead twice in the match and Algeria equalised both times. And then, it looked like both sides had settled. There were even some farcical scenes towards the end of the match with Algeria passing …







