Arnautovic’s stoppage-time penalty caps Austria’s first World Cup win in 36 years

Austria needed 36 years and 102 minutes to win a World Cup match again, but they got there. A 3-1 victory over debutants Jordan at Levi’s Stadium on Tuesday gave Ralf Rangnick’s side their first win at the tournament since 1990, and it took a stoppage-time penalty from a 37-year-old substitute to settle a game they had made hard for themselves.

Romano Schmid had given Austria a comfortable-looking start, curling in their only first-half shot on target in the 21st minute. For a side that had not tasted World Cup victory since beating the United States in 1990, the early lead felt like a release. Then Jordan, playing the first World Cup match in their history, reminded everyone why they were here.

Jordan refuse to be a footnote

Ali Olwan cut in from the left five minutes after the break and curled a finish in off the far post. It was Jordan’s first goal at a World Cup, scored on their debut, and it knocked Austria out of their stride completely. For the next half hour the European side looked the more anxious of the two, and a tournament newcomer ranked well below them suddenly looked capable of taking a point.

Jordan matched Austria for shots, finishing with 11 each and four apiece on target. Where the gap showed was in control rather than chances. Austria held nearly two thirds of the ball and built an expected-goals advantage of 1.69 to 0.46, the kind of numbers that usually point to a win but had not yet produced a second goal.

Rangnick’s substitute settles it

Rangnick had sent on Marko Arnautovic at half-time, and the veteran forward shaped the closing stretch. Austria edged back in front in the 76th minute when a corner flicked off Yazan Al-Arab and into his own net, the sort of scrappy goal a labouring favourite tends to need. The result still was not safe until deep into a 12-minute period of stoppage time, when a VAR review spotted handball by Saleem Obaid and Arnautovic stepped up to convert the penalty.

At 37, Arnautovic became Austria’s oldest scorer at a World Cup, a fitting line for a player who has carried their attack for the better part of a decade. The margin reads comfortably, but Austria know they were second best for long spells and will need more from open play before they meet sterner opponents.

Group J takes shape

The win lifts Austria level with Argentina, who opened the group by beating Algeria 3-0 behind a Lionel Messi hat-trick. Both sides have three points after the first round of matches, while Jordan and Algeria are still searching for their first. Austria face Argentina next on Monday, a meeting that should tell them far more about their knockout hopes than this nervy opener did. Jordan, beaten but far from disgraced, take on Algeria in a game that already looks decisive for the bottom two.

For Jordan there is real encouragement here. They travelled as the group’s outsiders, conceded an early goal to a side with far more pedigree, and still spent long stretches looking the likelier to score next. Olwan’s strike will be replayed in Amman for years. For Austria, three points papered over a performance that asked as many questions as it answered.

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