The Jordanian national team started its historic first campaign in the 2026 World Cup finals with a 3-1 loss to Austria, in the match that brought them together at dawn on Wednesday, June 17, within the competitions of Group X.
Ihsan Haddad almost opened the scoring in the second minute, before Al-Nashami continued to threaten the Austrian goal through Moussa Al-Tamari and Odeh Fakhoury, but goalkeeper Alexander Schlager shined in stopping Jordanian attempts.
In the 21st minute, Austria succeeded in taking the lead through Romano Schmid, who fired a powerful shot from outside the box that settled in the top corner of Yazid Abou Leila's goal, taking advantage of Xavier Schlager's pass.
Despite the delay, the Jordanian team did not back down, but continued to press and create chances, the most dangerous of which was Ali Alwan's header that hit the crossbar in the 22nd minute, then a double chance for Ali Alwan and Moussa Al-Tamari that was saved by the defense and the Austrian goalkeeper, while Al-Tamari wasted a valuable opportunity before the end of the first half when he shot near the post.
As the second half began, the Jordanian team appeared in a completely different form, and succeeded in translating its advantage quickly when Nour Al-Rawabdeh led a quick counter-attack during which he passed the ball to Ali Alwan, who cleverly shot it into the Austrian net at the 50th minute to announce the equalizer.
The goal gave a great morale boost to Al-Nashami, who continued to perform a strong and organized performance, at a time when the Austrian team resorted to making three substitutions at once to revitalize its lines and regain control of the course of the match.
Austrian pressure increased during the second half of the half, as video technology canceled out a goal by Marko Arnautovic in the 67th minute due to a foul, before the European team continued its successive attacks on the Jordanian goal.
The decisive turning point came in the 76th minute, when one of the dangerous balls inside the box turned into a reverse goal scored by defender Yazan Al-Arab by mistake in his goal, to give Austria a 2-1 lead amid a great shock to the Jordanian national team players.
The Jordanian coach tried to revitalize the team by involving Salim Obeid, then Mahmoud Al-Mardi and Saeed Al-Rasan instead of the injured Ihsan Haddad and Abdullah Nassib, but the Austrian team got a penalty kick from which Marko Arnautovic scored the third goal from a penalty kick in the 12th minute of stoppage time of the match.
Argentina wins a clean sheet against Algeria
Lionel Messi scored a historic hat-trick as Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 in Group X of the 2026 FIFA World Cup at Kansas City Stadium, becoming the highest-scoring player in the tournament's history in partnership with Germany's Miroslav Klose, and becoming the first player to play in the finals six times.
Messi's hat-trick, his first in the World Cup, came in the 17th, 60th and 76th minutes, raising his tally to 16 goals in 27 games as the all-time top scorer at the World Cup in partnership with Klose, in his sixth edition after 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Iraq kicks off World Cup return with loss to Norway
The Iraqi national football team kicked off its return to the World Cup after a 40-year absence, with a 4-1 loss to Norway and its top scorer Erling Haaland on Tuesday at Gillette Stadium, Foxboro/Boston at the conclusion of the first round of Group E competitions within the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Manchester City's English goalscorer Haaland scored a brace in the two minutes (29 and 43) to take his tally to 57 goals in 51 international matches, and substitutes Leo Ostegaard (76) and Ayman Hussein (90+6) scored Norway's goals, while the Iraqis scored their only goal by their striker Ayman Hussein (39).
Norway, who are also returning to the finals for the first time since 1998, topped the group by a goal over France, who beat Senegal 3-1 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford (New Jersey/New York) about three hours earlier.
Iraq, making its second appearance in its history after 1986, will play France in Philadelphia and Norway will play Senegal in East Rutherford on June 22 in the second round.
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