Austria marked their return to the World Cup after a 28-year absence with a tense 3-1 win over debutants Jordan in their Group J opener on Tuesday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, relying on a second-half own goal and a last-gasp penalty to claim the three points. Football365 reported.
Austria took the lead on 20 minutes through a Romano Schmid thunderbolt, but were pegged back five minutes after the break when striker Ali Olwan found space in the area and fired a sizzling shot inside the far post.
Austria’s veteran target man Marko Arnautovic slammed a low shot into the net from a goalmouth scramble in the 69th minute but it was ruled out for handball by teammate Stefan Posch following a VAR review.
Seven minutes later, though, Austria were celebrating again as Yazan Al‑Arab deflected a Marcel Sabitzer corner into his own net, before Arnautovic slotted home a penalty deep into stoppage time after Saleem Obeid was penalised for handball.
In the other Group J match, the current world champions, Argentina, convincingly defeated Algeria (3-0).
The World Cup is being contested by 48 national teams for the first time.
The final match of the tournament is scheduled for July 19 in New York.
bd-pratidin/GR
