In their first match at the FIFA World Cup in 28 years Austria registered a hard-fought 3-1 victory over debutants Jordan, powered by first-half strike from Romano Schmid, an own goal by Jordan defender Yazan Al Arab and a Marko Arnautovic penalty deep into injury time at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Interestingly, Austria have now played 30 FIFA World Cup matches to date, and not a single one of them has finished goalless.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Jordan started brightly and carved out the first half-chance of the game in just the second minute at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, but captain Ehsan Haddad fired his effort into the side-netting.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Odeh Fakhouri then sent another warning shot a quarter of an hour later, but his strike from distance was tipped over the bar by Austria goalkeeper Alexander Schlager.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
It was instead Austria that took the lead in the 20th minute, when Schmid whipped an unstoppable drive into the back of the net from the edge of the area.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Parity was restored five minutes into the second period, after a terrific solo effort from Ali Olwan, reports Xinhua.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Nashama No 9 carried the ball forward after being played into the Austria half by Noor Al Rawabdeh and, after breaking into the penalty area, he jinked inside and bent an inch-perfect shot home to create history and become the first Jordanian to score at the World Cup.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Arnautovic thought he had re-established Austria’s lead in the 67th minute, stabbing in after the ball broke to him in the six-yard box when Jordan goalkeeper Yazeed Abulaila failed to get enough purchase on a punch clear at a corner, but after a VAR on-field review the effort was ruled out for a handball in the build-up by Stefan Posch.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Nashama No 9 carried the ball forward after being played into the Austria half by Noor Al Rawabdeh and, after breaking into the penalty area, he jinked inside and bent an inch-perfect shot home to create history and become the first Jordanian to score at the World Cup.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The veteran then added the gloss as he rifled in from the penalty spot in the 12th minute of time added on.<\/p>\r\n\r\n