It wasn’t the most technical game World cupbut the Austria took advantage of the chances he had and defeated the Jordan 3-1 in the early hours of this Wednesday (17th) in Group J, at Levi’s Stadium, in Santa Clara, California.
After a gap of 28 years without competing in the World Cup, the Austrian team has three points and is behind Argentina in the group standings, based on goal difference. Jordan, on its World Cup debut, managed at least one goal of honor.
The duel had a lot of desire from both teams, which was clear in the fast pace that the players presented on the field, but this was not synonymous with technical plays and well-worked tactical disputes. On the contrary.
What we saw, especially in the first half, were plays without effective results in the attack, many passing errors and defenses taking advantage in disputes, more due to the lack of quality of the attackers than the precision of the blocks.
The goal came in a move that deviated from this characteristic, when the Austrian Schmid picked up the ball outside the penalty area and hit a strong shot into the left corner of goalkeeper Abulaila, who just watched the ball pass.
In the next move, Jordan arrived with danger and almost equalized, when Ali Olwan hit Schlager’s crossbar.
In the rest of the period, the game was very truncated, with many changes of ball possession, without real effectiveness in the attacks.
The second half started with the Jordanians more incisive and they soon found an equalizer with Ali Olwan, who scored Jordan’s first goal in World Cups. Al-Rawabdeh beat Schlager and passed it to number 9, who cut inside and hit the ball to leave everything equal after 4 minutes.
At 22 minutes, a move that clearly demonstrates the scenario of the match. Sabitzer crossed into the area and goalkeeper Abulaila hit it poorly. The ball was left inside the penalty area and several players, from both teams, fought back until the ball fell to center forward Arnautovic, who took the opportunity to score the goal. But VAR called the referee, who marked an Austrian’s handball before the play and disallowed the goal.
After the hydration stop, Austria returned to the lead with an own goal. In another cross in Sabitzer’s area, the ball passed by some players and hit Al-Arab’s back before entering the goal, taking away any chance of defense for the goalkeeper.
In the 46th minute, Arnautovic had another big one to add, but, face to face with the goalkeeper, he shot into the corner and Abulaila palmed it away.
At 55 minutes, Arnautovic received the ball on the right and kicked the ball home. The ball hit a defender’s hand and, after consulting the VAR, the referee awarded a penalty, charging the Austrian center forward himself to close the score.
Austria returns to the field next Monday (22) to face leaders Argentina, at 2 pm (Brasília time), while Algeria duels with Jordan on the same day, at midnight.
