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Algeria and Austria play on Saturday night, and if they draw, both will advance to the World Cup's Round of 32.
A loser in this match would be in great jeopardy of going home. There are strong incentives for both sides to play safe and end with it all tied up, either 0-0 or maybe 1-1.
If that happens, it will remind long-time world football fans of the Disgrace of Gijon.
And ironically, that 1982 bit of history also involved Austria and Algeria, albeit in different places in the story.
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What is the Disgrace of Gijon?
This was a World Cup match that took place in 1982 in Gijon, Spain, between West Germany and Austria.
The West Germans and Austrians knew that a 1-0 win for West Germany would advance both teams to the next round and eliminate Algeria.
Back then, the final matches in a given group weren't played at the same time -- this is what changed that.
Algeria played a day earlier, so West Germany knew that after scoring one goal, they and Austria could just chill out and both move on.
There was not much push to score anymore after the West Germans got it to the desired 1-0 score line.
Algeria was eliminated.
Is there a choice to make for Algeria?
Of course, advancing to the Round of 32 is the most important thing here. Algeria shouldn't jeopardize a draw just to redeem bad feelings.
But there's a case to be made, as the team that missed out due to the Disgrace of Gijon, that Algeria could really go for it in this match.
They could look to score goals, win, and eliminate Austria.
It would be a bit of karma 44 years in the making.
Will they do it? It seems much more likely that both sides in this match take the pragmatic approach.
Maybe it'll even feel like another disgrace, but for the sake of football fans, we hope not.
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