On a rainy day in Sydney's Surry Hills, a small crowd rushed into Cafe Tanja, draped in the green and white flag of Algeria, gathering around a TV with dreams of seeing their country make the World Cup knockout stage for the first time in 12 years. Greetings were exchanged in French as small plastic cups of tea were handed out. The smell of spices wafted through the cafe as flames burst from a pan in the kitchen.
Nervous energy and a historic match
There was a nervous feeling in the air at Cafe Tanja because a loss would mean elimination for Algeria, who had been waiting for the chance to play Austria since the "Disgrace of Gijón", the 1982 World Cup match where West Germany settled for a 1-0 win over Austria at the expense of Algeria, who were knocked out on goal difference.
Abdou, 25, sat down at the back of the cafe, which serves Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian food from north Africa. Originally from France, he ventured out to the World Cup in Los Angeles to watch Algeria beat Jordan, before arriving in Australia two days ago. He found Cafe Tanja through Instagram and wanted to be around his fellow countrymen to see the final group game. Next to Abdou in the corner was Billy, 38, who moved to Australia from Algeria more than 10 years ago. He has been watching Algeria since he was little and is no stranger to sacrificing sleep to see his team play. "Usually I put the alarm on and watch the game early in the morning," Billy said. "This year we got lucky because we finally have good timing to watch all the games in Australia."
Food, goals, and pandemonium
As the first half started, food poured out of the kitchen: spicy sausages known as merguez with potatoes and sauce in baguettes were handed out until groans from the crowd indicated Austria had scored an early first-half goal. Just before half-time, cheers came from upstairs, confusing those downstairs because the live stream was behind. After a minute the goal was finally shown: the cafe jumped for joy and a chant of "one, two, three, we love Algeria" roared from both floors.
During the half-time break, more people arrived, and the cafe neared capacity. In the second half, both teams scored in quick succession, making it 2-2; the game seemed destined to go down to the wire. Then, with two minutes to go, Riyad Mahrez, Algeria's favourite son, scored; pandemonium broke out, chants were sung, and stools turned into drums. The enjoyment was short-lived because in the last seconds Austria equalised. But laughter and cheering continued as the 3-3 draw sent Algeria through to the round of 32.
A community united
Cafe Tanja's Sanah Djebli, 34, moved to Australia more than 10 years ago and runs the small cafe with her family. "We lost my brother four years ago," she said. "He left us some money and it was always my mum's dream to open a cafe. And because I was living in Australia we wanted to do it here – we wanted to do something for our community." As the cafe cleared out, there was a sense of hope and excitement: the World Cup is uniting Australia's small Algerian community game by game. Many said their goodbyes and told Sanah they would be back soon.
