Austria beat World Cup debutants Jordan 3-1 in Santa Clara on Tuesday. Marko Arnautovic settled it from the penalty spot deep in stoppage time. Ali Olwan had earlier scored Jordan's first goal at a World Cup.
Austria beat World Cup debutants Jordan 3-1 in Santa Clara on Tuesday. Marko Arnautovic settled it from the penalty spot deep in stoppage time. Ali Olwan had earlier scored Jordan's first goal at a World Cup.
Romano Schmid put Austria ahead on 20 minutes, cutting inside and curling a right-footed shot beyond Yazeed Abu Laila. Ali Olwan levelled five minutes after the break, driving into the box and beating Alexander Schlager off the inside of the post for Jordan's first goal at a World Cup. Austria thought they had retaken the lead through Marko Arnautovic, but a lengthy VAR review ruled out the effort for handball against Stefan Posch in the build-up.
The breakthrough came on 77 minutes when Yazan Al-Arab turned a corner into his own net. Arnautovic then thumped in a penalty in the 12th minute of stoppage time, awarded after his shot struck the arm of Saleem Obeid.
Ralf Rangnick refused to claim his side had been comfortable. "This was very intense, sometimes even too intense. Jordan did an incredible job and made everything very difficult for us. In the end, we deserved to win, but it was very difficult," the Austria coach said.
He also pushed back on the idea his team had been clear favourites. "I know that some of you thought that we would be the favourite in this match, but we were definitely not," Rangnick said, praising Jordan for "a very brave kind of football" that, he added, "exceeded my expectations."
Rangnick pointed to a defensive lapse for the equaliser. "The equalizer was really unnecessary because we lost the ball to our opponent. During halftime, we said we should not allow counterattacks. And we kind of invited them to counterattack," he said.
He defended starting Sasa Kalajdzic ahead of Arnautovic, who came on at the interval. "Kalajdzic did very well in the training sessions for the last two weeks, and so it was just logical to have him start today," Rangnick said. "He struggled a little bit when it came to the intensity and the physical need of this tournament, so that's when I brought in Marko at halftime."
The win opened Austria's campaign on three points and lifted them into second place in Group J. It was their first World Cup match since 1998, a gap of 28 years.
Arnautovic's penalty was his 48th goal for Austria, in his record 134th appearance, and the first he has scored at a World Cup. The 37-year-old substitute changed the game's physical balance after replacing the towering Kalajdzic, who had lost most of his aerial duels in a quiet first half.
The match drew 68,527 spectators, just 300 below capacity, with large numbers of Jordan supporters inside the ground.
Austria meet defending champions Argentina on 22 June in Arlington. Argentina opened with a 3-0 win over Algeria, Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick. Jordan, known as Al-Nashama, next face Algeria before their own meeting with Argentina.
Rangnick welcomed the test ahead. "It doesn't get more exciting than that to be able to face this opponent from the get-go," he said.
