Austrian media points to PSV: 'Brought significantly more energy to the attacking game'

In the early Wednesday morning in Dutch time, Austria won the first World Cup match in North America 3-1 against World Cup debutant Jordan. For the Alpine country, this was their first World Cup match since 1998 and their first victory at the global finals since the 1990 World Cup.

PSV's Paul Wanner started the match on the bench and, with the score at 1-1, was allowed to come on in the 59th minute in favor of former PSV player Phillipp Mwene. In the end, the team of head coach Ralf Rangnick won 3-1 against the World Cup debutant in the group where Argentina had earlier beaten Algeria 3-0 thanks to a hat-trick by Lionel Messi.

After the match Austria - Jordan, the media in the Alpine country have been praising Wanner’s cameo appearance. According to the press, the midfielder from PSV was one of the reasons why Austria managed to draw the match level after all.

''The young player's interception brought back exactly the lightness and carefree attitude that the team had missed after the surprising equalizer'', writes the outlet oe24.

In addition, Heute also speaks very highly of the substitute appearance of the talented midfielder. ''He showed great commitment and brought considerably more energy to the attacking play. He thereby gave a new impetus'', the newspaper said.

The Standard is likewise lyrical. ''Rangnick quickly read the situation and made a triple substitution: Paul Wanner, Carney Chukwuemeka and Kevin Danso came on for Schlager, Mwene and Alaba. This helped Austria find some stability. And Austria ultimately regained the lead'', concludes the daily paper

Nevertheless, there is also some criticism of Wanner. ''The player from Vorarlberg fought his way directly after his substitute appearance in the match, but his play remained generally somewhat average. However, it is no coincidence that Austria's game became significantly more stable after his arrival'', as Laola1 writes.