Austria claim first World Cup win since 1990 with victory over Jordan
By Press Association Sport Staff
Austria claimed their first World Cup victory since 1990 with a 3-1 win against debutants Jordan.
Two late goals at the home of the San Francisco 49ers helped Ralf Rangnick’s side make the perfect start in Group J after Ali Olwan had equalised with Jordan’s first World Cup goal.
Jordan started brightly and Alexander Schlager needed to produce a good early save to deny Odeh Fakhoury, but it was Austria, playing at the World Cup for the first time since 1998, who opened the scoring in the 21st minute.
Romano Schmid picked up the ball on the edge of the penalty area, cut inside and sent an unstoppable shot into the top corner.
Jordan almost equalised immediately but Olwan headed against the bar from a corner, while Schlager then kept out another effort from the lively forward.
Olwan, Jordan’s top scorer in qualifying, was not to be denied five minutes after the break, though, taking advantage of the space he was allowed on the left to drive into the box and send a shot beyond Schlager.
Austria thought they had scored again in the 67th minute when Jordan keeper Yazeed Abulaila made a mess of a corner and Marko Arnautovic tucked the ball away but Stefan Posch was penalised for a handball following a lengthy VAR check.
However, Jordan did not learn their lesson and another corner in the 76th minute was headed into his own net by Yazan Al Arab before, deep in added time, Mohammad Abu Zraiq was deemed to have handled following a second VAR check and Arnautovic found the bottom corner from the penalty spot.
Austria head coach Ralf Rangnick admitted he was surprised by Jordan’s level, saying on oefb.at: “It was a very difficult match. Jordan made life difficult for us. We needed time to get into the game, but things improved midway through the second half.
“We deserved to win in the end, but it was hard work. There was more at stake for us and you could see that in Jordan’s performance. They ran like their lives depended on it and put on a stronger performance than we expected.”
Jordan counterpart Jamal Sellami praised his side, saying on jfa.com.jo: “I am proud of what the players offered during this tough match as they executed all their defensive and offensive duties effectively.
“Our focus is now on the upcoming matches against Algeria and Argentina. We are counting on our Jordanian fans who supported us today in the stadium and provided a significant morale boost to perform at the required level.”
