Austria were given a scare by FIFA World Cup 2026 debutants Jordan, before securing a win, which was rounded off by a penalty in stoppage time by veteran forward Marko Arnautovic.
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, relying on a second-half own goal and a last-gasp penalty from Marko Arnautovic to claim the three points.
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.
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Austria’s veteran target man 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.
Victory lifted Austria to second place in Group J, behind reigning World Cup winners Argentina, who took the top spot after Lionel Messi’s magical hat-trick steered them to a 3-0 win over Algeria earlier on Tuesday. Jordan sit third in the group, while Algeria are bottom.
The FIFA World Cup begins on June 11. You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated World Cup 2026 page with all the latest news, match build-up and live text commentary, and keep up to date with group standings, real-time match results and schedules.