Santa Clara: Austria returned to the FIFA World Cup after a 28-year absence with a 3-1 victory over debutants Jordan at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on Wednesday.
Romano Schmid put Austria ahead in the 20th minute with a powerful strike from the edge of the area. Jordan threatened early — captain Ehsan Haddad fired wide in the second minute and Odeh Fakhouri forced a smart save from Austria keeper Alexander Schlager — but it was Schmid who broke the deadlock.
Jordan levelled five minutes into the second half through Ali Olwan, who produced a brilliant solo run and curled an accurate finish to become the first Jordanian to score at a World Cup. Austria thought they had retaken the lead in the 67th minute when Marko Arnautovic tapped in at the far post, but a VAR review ruled out the goal for a handball in the build-up.
Austria regained the lead when Jordan defender Yazan Al Arab inadvertently headed into his own net. The result was sealed deep into stoppage time when Arnautovic converted a penalty in the 12th minute of added time, completing a hard-fought 3-1 win.
The victory keeps Austria’s long World Cup record intact: none of their 30 tournament matches has finished goalless.
(Inputs from IANS)