Heartbreak for Jordan: Debutants make World Cup history before falling to late Austria surge

Austria survived a major scare from Fifa World Cup debutants Jordan on Tuesday evening before securing a hard-fought 3-1 victory, sealed by a deep stoppage-time penalty from veteran forward Marko Arnautović.

Ralf Rangnick’s side went ahead at Levi’s Stadium in California when Romano Schmid produced a brilliant opening goal on 21 minutes, cutting inside to unleash an unstoppable strike into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.

Jordan refused to back down on their big night and hit back five minutes after the interval. Ali Olwan made history by scoring the first-ever World Cup goal for his country, driving into space down the left flank before cutting inside to place a superb right-footed effort past Austria goalkeeper Alexander Schlager and in off the far post.

Austria thought they had retaken the lead through Arnautović in the 67th minute, only for the goal to be disallowed for a handball against Stefan Posch following a lengthy VAR review. However, the Europeans finally broke Jordan’s resistance in the 76th minute when a dangerous corner was accidentally bundled into his own net by defender Yazan Al-Arab.

Deep into added time, another VAR check penalised Jordan for a handball in the box, allowing 37-year-old former West Ham striker Arnautović to step up and find the bottom corner from the penalty spot to guarantee all three points for Austria.

AFP