Group J of the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico, and Canada, which includes the Argentine national team, Jordan, Austria, and Algeria, has a history of official encounters at World Cups. According to a survey by the Argentine News Agency, it refers to the match where the Europeans defeated the Africans 2-0 in the 1982 Spain tournament, in the first round's Group B, with goals by Walter Schachner and Hans Krankl. Later, the Austrians would lose 1-0 to West Germany in a fixed match so that both teams could advance, to the detriment of Algeria, in what became known as "The Gijón Disaster". The Argentine team has some friendlies with Austria and Algeria. The Argentine national team will face Austria, Algeria, and Jordan for the first time in a World Cup, although in the history of matches between them, the team has a slight edge over the Europeans and Africans, while it will be the first official encounter with the Asian team. In this regard, with the Austrians, they played two friendly matches, with one win and one draw, both as visitors in Vienna. On May 21, 1980, the 'albiceleste' team, led by César Luis Menotti, crushed the Europeans 5-1, with three goals from a young Diego Maradona, Santiago Santamaría, and Leopoldo Luque, while Kurt Jara scored for the hosts. The second and last match against Austria was on May 3, 1990, and ended 1-1, with Manfred Zsifkovics scoring for the home team and Jorge Burruchaga for the national team. As for Algeria, they have only one recorded encounter, which ended in an Argentine victory 4-3 on June 5, 2007, at Barcelona's Nou Camp. In a match with a changing course of play, the 'albiceleste' was leading with a penalty goal from Carlos Tévez, but the Africans turned it around with goals from Anthar Yahia and Madjid Bougherra. In the second half, Argentina reacted and reversed the score with goals from Lionel Messi (penalty), Esteban Cambiasso, and Messi again, while the Algerians scored their third goal through Nadir Belhadj.
