Austrian press points to PSV: “Brought significantly more energy into the attacking play”

In the early Wednesday morning Dutch time, Austria won their first World Cup match in North America 3-1 against World Cup debutant Jordan. For the Alpine nation, 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 take the field in the 59th minute in favor of former PSV player Phillipp Mwene. In the end, the team coached by national team manager Ralf Rangnick won 3-1 against the World Cup debutant in the group where Argentina had previously won 3-0 against Algeria thanks to a hat-trick by Lionel Messi.

After the match Austria - Jordan, the media in the Alpine country have been praising the substitute appearance of Wanner. According to the press, the midfielder of PSV was one of the reasons that Austria managed to pull the match back over the line.

''The young man's sudden entrance brought back precisely the lightness and carefree attitude that the team had missed after the surprising equalizer,'' the outlet oe24 writes.

In addition, Heute is also very laudatory about the substitute appearance of the talented midfielder. ''He showed great commitment and brought significantly more energy to the attacking play. In doing so, he provided a new impetus'', said the newspaper.

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

Nevertheless, there is also some criticism of Wanner. ''The player from Vorarlberg fought his way into the match immediately after coming on, but his play remained generally somewhat mediocre. However, it is no coincidence that Austrian football became significantly more stable after his arrival'', as Laola1 writes.