Dugout Discussion
28 June 2026 14 comments
TopMarx TopMarx
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The Group stage of the World Cup concludes with holders Argentina playing Jordan and Austria taking on Algeria. The 71st and 72nd matches of this expanded tournament.

Group winners Argentina already know they are playing Cape Verde in the round of 32, while World Cup debutants Jordan are already eliminated.

Austria and Algeria are level on three points heading into their encounter in Kansas, but Austria’s superior goal difference means they only need a draw to secure second place. A draw would also be enough to see Algeria through to the round of 32, a defeat and they are out.

Both matches kick-off at 03:00 BST.

TEAM NEWS

With nothing riding on the match in Dallas, Argentina make nine changes including leaving Lionel Messi ($10.0m) on the bench. The only survivors from round 2 are Emi Martinez (£5.0m) and Lautaro Martinez (£8.8m).

The ‘Jordanian Messi’, Mousa Al-Tamari ($5.6m), who supplied a fortunate assist in the defeat to Algeria, is also benched. One of two changes for the Jordanians.

Riyad Mahrez ($6.5m) keeps his place for Algeria but current Manchester City player Rayan Ait-Nouri ($4.9m) is named among the substitutes.

Former Stoke City and West Ham United player Marko Arnautovic ($6.0m) starts for Austria.

There are six players selected by more than five per cent of Fantasy managers in Group J, most are on the Argentina bench:

LINE-UPS

Jordan XI: Yazeed Abulaila, Abdallah Nasib, Yazan Al-Arab, Husam Abu Dahab, Ehsan Haddad, Nizar Al-Rashdan, Noor Al-Rawabdeh, Mohannad Abu Taha, Ali Azaizeh, Ali Olwan, Odeh Fakhoury

Subs: Bani Attiah, A al-Fakhouri, Abu Hashish, Abualnadi, Obaid, al-Rosan, Badawi, Jamous, Ayed, Sadeh, Abu Ghoush, al-Dawoud, Abu Zrayq, al-Taamari, al-Mardi.

Argentina XI: Emiliano Martínez, Giuliano Simeone, Nicolás Otamendi, Marcos Senesi, Nicolás Tagliafico, Nico Paz, Leandro Paredes, Exequiel Palacios, Giovani Lo Celso, Julián Álvarez, Lautaro Martínez

Subs: Musso, Rulli, Monitel, Lisandro Martinez, Romero, Medina, Molina, De Paul, Barco, Gonzalez, Almada, Mac Allister, Fernandez, Lopez, Messi.


Algeria XI: Oussama Benbout, Rafik Belghali, Aïssa Mandi, Ramy Bensebaini, Jaouen Hadjam, Houssem Aouar, Nabil Bentaleb, Ibrahim Maza, Riyad Mahrez, Amine Gouiri, Farès Chaïbi

Subs: M. Mastil, L. Zidane, A. Abada, M. Tougai, Z. Belaid, A. Hadj Moussa, A. Benbouali, H. Boudaoui, R. Ait Nouri, A. Boulbina, Y. Titraoui, F. Ghedjemis, S. Chergui, R. Zerrouki

Austria XI: Alexander Schlager, Stefan Posch, Philipp Lienhart, David Alaba, Phillipp Mwene, Nicolas Seiwald, Xaver Schlager, Romano Schmid, Konrad Laimer, Marcel Sabitzer, Marko Arnautovic

Subs: F. Wiegele, P. Pentz, D. Affengruber, K. Danso, F. Grillitsch, M. Gregoritsch, S. Kalajdzic, C. Chukwuemeka, D. Ljubicic, P. Wimmer, A. Prass, M. Friedl, P. Wanner, M. Svoboda, A. Schopf


TopMarx Fan of Fantasy Football and Monty Python. "Archimedes out to Socrates, Socrates back to Archimedes, Archimedes out to Heraclitus, he beats Hegel. Heraclitus a little flick, here he comes on the far post, Socrates is there, Socrates heads it in! Socrates has scored! The Greeks are going mad, the Greeks are going mad! Socrates scores, got a beautiful cross from Archimedes. The Germans are disputing it. Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics, Kant via the categorical imperative is holding that ontologically it exists only in the imagination, and Marx is claiming it was offside. Follow them on Twitter

14 Comments Login to Post a Comment
  1. Totalfootball
    • 9 Years
    3 hours, 10 mins ago

    Most clear ONSIDE goal has been disallowed otherwise it was portugal vs England in R32 .

    1. Tony Moon
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 16 Years
      2 hours, 57 mins ago

      Replay showed it was offside, albeit the tiniest margin - ridiculous really, but that's the rule!

    2. Sheffield Wednesday
      • 6 Years
      2 hours, 23 mins ago

      The goal was disallowed because the linesman flagged it offside, the technology showed he was not wrong. What's the problem?

  2. Pep Roulette
    • 8 Years
    2 hours, 37 mins ago

    Why was Munoz benched? Rested?

    1. Sheffield Wednesday
      • 6 Years
      2 hours, 25 mins ago

      It was because I picked him on a WC 😉
      Don't know the actual reason but Colombia didn't need to chase the win so perhaps went for a more defensive RB knowing they could chuck Munoz on if they fell behind.

    2. TopMarx
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 13 Years
      2 hours, 21 mins ago

      Yeah just rested, got a huge cheer when he came on towards the end

    3. Pep Roulette
      • 8 Years
      1 hour, 33 mins ago

      Cheers lads

  3. SpaceCadet
    • 12 Years
    2 hours, 30 mins ago

    Thoughts on the R32 draft?

    Rangel Pickford
    Munoz santos cucu medina Martinez
    Yamal dembele vini Trossard nmecha
    Messi mbappe Kane

    1. Pep Roulette
      • 8 Years
      1 hour, 38 mins ago

      No space for Luis Diaz?

      1. SpaceCadet
        • 12 Years
        1 hour, 8 mins ago

        Will have to sacrifice Kane/ Yamal for that.

    2. PartyTime
      • 4 Years
      8 mins ago

      Too much England

    3. GCHILD2K16
      • 9 Years
      just now

      Remember you will be back to 2 or 3 subs for round of 16 so think about that fixture and QF.
      Looking at the draw, You need a colombia attack and germany likely to be out in round of 16 against france so Replace trossard and Nmecha with James Rodrigues and Tielemans/Manzambi[suisse].
      Olize over dembele against Sweden and Germany
      Bellingham or L.diaz over Yamal. Spain midfield have been shocking and they face austria then portugal?

  4. That Fantasy Guy
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    4 mins ago

    Anyone else not seeing the Spain vs Austria fixture and the Switzerland vs Algeria fixture on the game?

    1. GCHILD2K16
      • 9 Years
      1 min ago

      Yes but they will add it tomorrow when the game updates and well before the 8pm deadline. Game likely to be Tuesday or wednesday and not tomorrow.