Victory for Austria on Paul Wanner’s World Cup debut

On early Wednesday morning, Austria won their first group match at the 2026 World Cup 3-1 against Jordan. For the Alpine nation, PSV midfielder Paul Wanner made his debut on the highest global stage in the second half.

Despite an Austrian victory, World Cup debutant Jordan made a good impression. However, it was Austria that went 1-0 up via Romano Schmid thanks to a wonderful goal.

1-0 was also the halftime score in favor of the team of national coach Ralf Rangnick, where former PSV defender Phillipp Mwene had a starting place. After the break, the Jordanians provided a historic equalizer.

After a loss of possession by Austria, Ali Olwan scored the 1-1 on the scoreboard in the 50th minute and as a result Austria had to look again for a lead. In the 59th minute, Rangnick brought Wanner on in favor of Mwene.

In the 70th minute, Austria seemed to go 2-1 up via Marko Arnautovic, former FC Twente player, after a mistake by goalkeeper Yazeed Abu Laila from a corner. However, ahead of the goal, a handball had been observed by Stefan Posch and therefore the goal did not stand.

In the 76th minute, the 2-1 finally came from a corner after Yazan Al-Arab unfortunately played the ball behind his own goalkeeper. After that, Austria no longer ran into trouble with Wanner, and in the twelfth(!) minute of stoppage time it was up to Arnautovic to make it 3-1 from a penalty.