Marko Arnautovic's brace lifts Austria past spirited Jordan side
Reading Time: 4min | Wed. 17.06.26. | 09:26
The Middle Eastern country was making their maiden FIFA World Cup appearance after nine previous unsuccessful qualifying attempts, with the closest being back in 2014 when they lost heavily to Uruguay in the intercontinental playoffs
Austria battled hard to a 3-1 win over debutants Jordan, ending their 36-year wait for a victory at the FIFA World Cup and strengthening their hopes of progression to the knockout stages for the first time since 1954.
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The Middle Eastern country was making their maiden FIFA World Cup appearance after nine previous unsuccessful qualifying attempts, with the closest being back in 2014 when they lost heavily to Uruguay in the intercontinental playoffs.
In this edition, however, they secured direct qualification with a game to spare after finishing second in Group B of the Asian qualifiers, behind South Korea.
Austria, on the other hand, quenched their 28-year thirst for a FIFA World Cup appearance after finishing top of their UEFA qualifiers ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina, thereby avoiding the drama of the playoffs.
Aiming to make a good account of themselves on their debut, Jordan posted a blistering start with a series of counterattacks in the opening five minutes, which did little to trouble Alexander Schlager in the Austrian goal.
Das Team gradually settled into the game and began dictating the tempo in the middle of the park, and went ahead to break the deadlock in the 20th minute when Romano Schmid hit a stunning strike from distance.
Jordan almost had an immediate riposte when they raced forward from the restart and had a shot thunder off the crossbar with the Austrian fans gathered at the Santa Clara Stadium in California breathing a huge sigh of relief.
Austria’s decent spell on the ball extended and had a penalty appeal waved away three minutes after the half hour mark when Bayern Munich midfielder Konrad Laimer tumbled in the box after breaking free as Ralf Rangnick’s men went into the break with the slender advantage.
Jordan resumed the game with manic impetus and took just five minutes to restore parity when Ali Olwan went on a lung-bursting run from the halfway line and cut on to his right boot to rifle the ball off the inside of the far post and into the net.
After introducing Marko Arnautović at half time for Sasa Kalajdzic, Austria made a triple change in the 59th minute, bringing on Kevin Danso, Carney Chukwuemeka and Paul Wanner for captain David Alaba, and midfielders Xaver Schlager and Phillipp Mwene.
Chukwuemeka was straight into the thick of things four minutes later as he engineered a shot on target that was blocked by a sea of Jordan feet following a goalmouth melee.
Arnautović thought he had restored the lead for Austria, turning the ball into the back of the net from the six-yard box amid a mad scramble off a corner, but a handball forced the goal to be chalked off after a VAR review.
Austria finally regained control of the tie in the 77th minute after a horror attempt at a clearance that had bounced off a Jordan defender, Yazan Al-Arab’s back and into the net.
Arnautović almost grabbed a brace after breaking the defensive line and only had the keeper to beat to all but settle the game, but somehow his strike ended up straight at keeper Yazeed Abulaila.
Austria put the game to bed with the last kick of the game as Arnautović calmly converted his spot kick after his initial shot struck Salim Obaid’s raised hand.
Starting XIs:
Austria XI: 1 Alexander Schlager (gk); 5 Stefan Posch, 15 Philipp Lienhart, 8 David Alaba (c), 16 Phillipp Mwene; 4 Xaver Schlager, 6 Nicolas Seiwald, 9 Marcel Sabitzer, 20 Konrad Laimer; 18 Romano Schmid, 14 Saša Kalajdžić.
Jordan XI: 1 Yazeed Abulaila (gk); 5 Yazan Al-Arab, 3 Abdallah Nasib, 16 Mohammad Abualnadi; 23 Ehsan Haddad (c), 21 Nizar Al-Rashdan, 8 Noor Al-Rawabdeh, 20 Mohannad Abu Taha; 10 Musa Al-Taamari, 9 Ali Olwan, 11 Odeh Al-Fakhouri.
WORLD CUP - GROUP STAGE
Monday, 15.06.
Ivory Coast - Ecuador 1-0 (0-0)
/Diallo 90/
Sweden - Tunisia 5-1 (2-1)
/Ayari 7, 90+6, Isak 30, Gyokeres , Svanberg 84 - Rekik 43/
Spain - Cabo Verde 0-0
Belgium - Egypt 1-1 (0-1)
/Hany 66 og - Ashour 20/
Tuesday 16.06.
Saudi Arabia- Uruguay 1-1 (1-0)
/Amri 41 - Araujo 80/
Iran - New Zealand 2-2 (1-1)
/Ramin 33,Mohebi, 64- Just, 7,54/
France - Senegal 3-1 (0-0)
/Mbappe 66,90+6 Barcola 82 - Mbaye 90+5/
Wednesday
Iraq-Norway 1-3 (1-2)
/Hussein 39- Haaland 29, 43 Ostigard 76/
Argentina-Algeria 3-0 (1-0)
/Messi 17, 60, 76/
Austria - Jordan 3-1 (1-0)
/Schmid 21, Al-Arab 76 og, Arnautovic 90+12 pen - Olwan 50/
20.00: (1.30) Portugal (5.20) Dr Congo (11.0)
23.00: (1.75) England (3.90) Croatia (5.00)
***odds are subject to change***