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New Delhi: The group stage fixtures of the FIFA World Cup 2022 are in their final stage, and the last two games of the group stage are being played simultaneously at the same time, but have you wondered why?
To find out, we must go back to 1982, when Algeria made their World Cup debut. They were in Group 2 alongside West Germany, Austria, and Chile. The Algerians defeated West Germany and Chile but lost to Austria during group-stage clashes. If the West German side won that last group game against Austria, a match by a margin of a single or more will send Austria and West Germany, not Algeria, to the qualifying round.
The game began, and West Germany smacked a goal in the first half, but neither team tried to score goals in the second half.
Algerian fans speculated that both teams had agreed not to score against each other to qualify. The spectators, after seeing what was happening, went furious. The Algerian fans waved banknotes at the players, shouting that the match had already been fixed. The game resulted in a comfortable win for West Germany over Austria with a score-line of 1-0, which made both of them qualify for the next round and sent Algeria home.
Seeing a rise in such incidents, FIFA decided that the last two group games of every group would be played simultaneously. That match, which took place in Spain’s EL Molinon stadium, is known as “The Disgrace of Gijon.”
(Written by: Aviral Shukla)
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