News Focus
- Austria claim first World Cup victory since 1990 with 3-1 success against debutants Jordan in San Francisco
- Marko Arnautovic proves decisive from the bench, forcing an own goal and converting a 102nd-minute penalty
- Jordan impress on global debut, matching Austria for shots and earning their first-ever World Cup goal through Ali Olwan
- Massive crowd of 68,527 watches Group J opener at Levi’s Stadium
Austria have finally ended their 36-year wait for a World Cup victory after battling past courageous debutants Jordan 3-1 in San Francisco. Ralf Rangnick’s side required late drama at Levi’s Stadium to overcome the Asian qualifiers, who refused to show nerves on football’s biggest stage.
The match exploded into life within 90 seconds when Jordan captain Ehsan Haddad smashed a volley into the side-netting, signalling their intent. However, Austria silenced the underdogs in the 21st minute when Romano Schmid curled a magnificent strike into the net from outside the penalty area.
Jordan responded magnificently and struck the crossbar just two minutes later through Ali Olwan’s glancing header. Their persistence paid dividends early in the second half when Olwan bent a superb effort in off the post to register his country’s first-ever World Cup goal and level the scores.
Rangnick turned to his bench for inspiration, introducing veteran forward Marko Arnautovic at half-time. The substitute thought he had restored Austria’s lead in the 67th minute, tapping home from close range after a corner, but VAR disallowed the effort for a handball by Stefan Posch during the build-up.
The decisive moment arrived in the 76th minute through misfortune. Following a set-piece, the ball flicked off defender Yazan Al Arab’s back and crept over the line for an own goal. Jordan’s hopes of a maiden point vanished deep into stoppage time when video technology spotted Saleem Obaid handling Arnautovic’s goal-bound shot, allowing the former West Ham striker to convert the resulting penalty in the 12th minute of added time.
Despite Austria’s triumph, the statistics revealed a competitive contest, with both sides registering 11 attempts and four shots on target. Jordan’s fearless display suggests they can trouble Algeria in their next fixture, while Austria must raise their performance levels significantly ahead of a daunting clash with defending champions Argentina.