Ralf Rangnick’s Austria answers the call. The Red-White-Red national team began its World Cup campaign with a win — hard-fought but valuable — against Jordan, making its historic first-ever appearance at the World Cup. At the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, there was no shortage of entertainment, with goals, VAR incidents and disallowed strikes.
The match was unlocked in the early stages thanks to a fine curling right-footed strike from Schmid that gave Jordanian goalkeeper Laila no chance.
Jordan, however, showed it had not made it here by accident and responded at the start of the second half with an even more beautiful — as well as historic — goal.
With this morning’s goal, in fact, Olwan became the first Jordan national team player to score in a World Cup finals match. The move started with Al Rawabdeh winning the ball back in midfield and was carried forward by Olwan’s run. Reaching the edge of the area, he unleashed a stunning curling right-footed effort that kissed the inside of the post and went in. Schlager could do nothing and stood rooted to the spot.