KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business, including FIFA World Cup 26, and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
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Kansas City will host six FIFA World Cup 26 games in June and July at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
That’s tied with Philadelphia, Santa Clara, California, and Seattle for the fewest among any of the tournament’s 11 U.S. venues, but Kansas City lucked out in terms of quality contests, star power and storylines.
Argentina, the reigning World Cup champions led by legendary attacking midfielder Lionel Messi, will play at least one game at Arrowhead along with the Netherlands, who are ranked seventh in the FIFA Men’s World Ranking.
If Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal win their group, they’re in line for at least one game in Kansas City as well, giving the BBQ Capital of America and the Soccer Capital of America immense star power from its allotment of games.
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The region could get even luckier on the base camp front with Argentina, the Netherlands, England and Algeria, which plays two group stage matches at Arrowhead, among the front-runners to spend up to a month before the tournament in Kansas City.
Here’s more on the fourth and final group stage game that will be staged in KC:
GROUP J — ALGERIA VS AUSTRIA
Time/Date: 9 p.m., June 27
GET TO KNOW ALGERIA
FIFA World Ranking: No. 34
World Cup appearances: Fifth
Best World Cup finish: Round of 16 (2014)
Best nickname: The Desert Foxes (or The Fennecs)
Head coach (Appointed, W-D-L w/ national team): Vladimir Petković (2024, 22-8-2)
Biggest star: Riyad Mahrez
Mahrez, a right winger, is the Desert Foxes’ talisman. He moved to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli in 2023 after a sterling nine-season run in the English Premier League.
After cutting his teeth with smaller French sides, Mahrez joined Leicester City, where he helped The Foxes — yes, apparently foxes are his thing — stun the world by winning the 2015-16 EPL title.
Mahrez scored 42 goals with 32 assists in 158 league appearances with Leicester before moving to Manchester City for a then-record transfer fee for an African player.
He delivered for Pep Guardiola’s squad, scoring 43 goals with 34 assists in 145 league appearances during the next five seasons, becoming the first African player to win the English domestic treble when Man City won the Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup in 2018-19.
During his final season before moving to Saudi Arabia, Mahrez helped Man City win the rare continental treble as champions of the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League in 2022-23.
In other words, he’s a stud.
Population (world rank): 47,022,473 (33rd)
Total area (world rank): 919,595 square miles (10th)
Gross national income, per capita (world rank): $5,320 (125th)
More about Algeria: Located in northwest Africa, Algeria became the largest country in Africa in 2011 when Sudan split into two countries.
But the Sahara, the world’s largest subtropical desert, covers 90% of Algeria, which was once part of the Ottoman Empire and a French colony.
During the French occupation, which ended in 1962, the Méhariste, or camel cavalry, was created to police the Saharan desert as part of the colonial military.
Couscous originated in the majority Islamic nation home to the adorable Fennec fox, known for its delicious dates and renowned as the birthplace of Raï music.
Gasoline is cheaper than water in Algeria because of massive subsidies for government-produced petrol.
GET TO KNOW AUSTRIA
FIFA World Ranking: No. 24
World Cup appearances: Eighth
Best World Cup finish: Third place (1954)
Best nickname: Burschen (The Boys)
Head coach (Appointed, W-D-L w/ national team): Ralf Rangnick (2022, 25-8-10)
Biggest star: David Alaba
Once considered the best left back in soccer, age and injury have reined Alaba in from those heights, but the Real Madrid defender remains the Austrian captain and its engine in many ways.
His absence with a torn ACL was noticeable at Euro 2024, where Austria topped a group that included France, the Netherlands and Poland only to flame out against Turkey in the Round of 16.
Alaba’s experience — including 11 seasons with Bundesliga power Bayern Munich in Germany's top flight, four with Real Madrid in Spain's La Liga and the second-most caps in Austria’s history (111) — will be critical to the side’s World Cup hopes.
While not known as a goalscorer, Alaba did manage 33 goals in 431 appearances across all competitions with Bayern Munich, though he hasn’t scored for Real Madrid since the 2022-23 season.
Population (world rank): 8,967,982 (100th)
Total area (world rank): 32,383 square miles (113th)
Gross national income, per capita (world rank): $54,160 (22nd)
More about Austria: Roughly the size of South Carolina, Austria is a landlocked nation in the heart of Europe. Only Denmark boasts an older flag than Austria’s classic red-and-white-striped design.
The Austrian landscape is dominated by mountains with the Alps covering more than three-fifths of the country, a big reason for the snow skiing and snowboarding culture that permeates Austria. It’s also the region where yodeling was developed.
The world’s oldest zoo, the Schönbrunn Zoo, was founded on the grounds of a Vienna palace in 1752. It remains home to more than 700 animal species, while St. Peter Stiftskeller in Salzburg, which opened in 803, is believed to be the oldest continuously operating restaurant.
Krimml Waterfalls in Austria, where German is the official language, is one of Europe’s tallest and most impressive waterfalls.
The country gave the world Lippizzanner horses, the sewing machine, Sigmund Freud, whipped cream, coffeehouses, snow globes and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Eye contact, bordering on intense, is a sign of respect in Austrian culture.
Austria — known as the birthplace of the waltz and lederhosen, or leather shorts — has produced some of the world’s most renowned composers. That list includes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss II and Gustav Mahler. Famous German composer Ludwig van Beethoven spent most of his adult life in Vienna as well.
Roughly 2.9 million people live in metropolitan Vienna, which serves as Austria’s capital and is home to more than 30% of the country’s entire population. It’s the European Union’s fifth-largest city and the largest situated on the Danube River, which bisects Europe from Germany’s Black Forest east to the Black Sea.
Wiener schnitzel and strudel are among the best-known Austrian, or more specifically Viennese, foods.
The 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne, six years after the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, launched World War I.
More than a year before the war, Austrian-born Adolph Hitler had moved to Germany, where he began his rise to power after enlisting in the Bavarian Army.
ANALYSIS
Unless Austria plays a scoreless draw earlier in group play, Kansas City fans are guaranteed to see a goal or history, because The Boys have played the most games in World Cup history (29) without being part of a scoreless draw.
Early in World Cup history, Austria was a soccer power, finishing fourth at the second tournament in 1934 and third at the fifth tourney in 1954, but the national team had missed six straight World Cups since 1998 and hasn’t won a World Cup game since 1990.
Things changed for Austria with the appointment of Ralf Rangnick — a manager renowned in Germany’s Bundesliga for developing Gegenpressing, a high-energy, relentless counter-pressing style of play — which reinvigorated the national team.
Marko Arnautović — a former standout in the English Premier League, Chinese Super League and Italy’s Serie A — moved to Red Star Belgrade in Serbia this season. He’s 36 but still had enough juice to lead Austria with eight goals in World Cup qualifying.
It’s no surprise, given that he’s Austria’s all-time leader in appearances (130) and goals (47), but there’s help up top from Brøndby’s Michael Gregoritsch, who had four goals in qualifying.
RB Leipzig’s Christoph Baumgartner, who found his goal-scoring form in the Bundesliga this season, provides service while rampaging through the middle with Borussia Dortmund’s Marcel Sabitzer and Werder Bremen’s Romano Schmid.
Austria must be careful, though, as its high-pressure style can leave it vulnerable to counterattacks from opponents.
For the Desert Foxes, Riyad and Mohamed Amoura — a fellow forward for Germany’s VfL Wolfsburg, who led Algeria with 10 goals in World Cup qualifying — make for a formidable strike partnership, so Austria’s defense could have its hands full.
Rangnick’s side only allowed four goals in eight games during qualifying, but they didn’t face a duo as potent as Algeria will have.
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Sources: Countries by Area — CIA; Countries by Population — CIA; GNI per capita, Atlas method — World Bank