The World Cup knockout round is here. Which team got the luckiest draw?

∙ Paid 96 11 7 Share Riyad Mahrez, after scoring to tie Austria 2-2 — not his unexpected and perhaps ill-advised second goal to put Algeria up 3-2 in stoppage time. Getty Images. Hello from Kansas City, where last night I witnessed one of the strangest World Cup games ever . Algeria and Austria — who were both guaranteed to advance with a draw but would have dropped out of the knockout round with a loss — really went for it in the first three-quarters of the game, with the score tied 2-2 after the second-half hydration/advertising break. Algeria seemed content to see out the game from that point forward, passing the ball back and forth at midfield as the pro-Algeria crowd 1 booed sarcastically but didn’t seem too upset, given that Algeria would not only move on but also play a relatively forgiving opponent, Switzerland, in the R32.