World Cup 2026: Ex-Werder star makes Austria’s victory against Jordan perfect

Also Romano Schmid

Ex-Werder star ensures historic Austria victory

Austria is back at the World Cup and is delivering straight away. The focus is on two players who are closely linked to Werder.

Austria crowned its return to the World Cup stage after 28 years with a victory. Coach Ralf Rangnick’s team won 3-1 against World Cup newcomers Jordan at the start of the World Cup. Current or former Werder professionals ensured a historic success from Bremen’s perspective.

Werder’s midfielder Romano Schmid scored the first goal. The 25-year-old took the lead in the 20th minute and scored Austria’s first World Cup goal since 1998. After his goal, Schmid stormed straight to the bench and disappeared into a crowd of cheers from his teammates.

After the break, the game became much more complicated for the Austrians. Ali Olwan (50th) scored the equalizer and gave Jordan its first World Cup goal in the country’s history. Rangnick’s team had a hard time against the committed outsiders for a long time.

Only an own goal from Yazan Al-Arab (77th) brought Austria back to winning ways. In stoppage time, ex-Werder striker Marko Arnautovic made the decision. The former Bremer player converted a hand penalty in the twelfth minute of stoppage time to make the final score 3-1.

“It was the tough game we expected,” said Rangnick after the game. Jordan “made life difficult” for Austria. It wasn’t until the middle of the second half that his team got better into the game.

The success has historical significance for Austria: It was the country’s first World Cup victory since 1982. After missing qualification for the 2002 to 2022 tournaments and the first World Cup appearance since 1998, the goal of the round of 16 is now within reach.

However, a much bigger challenge awaits in the next group game. Then Austria meets world champion Argentina and superstar Lionel Messi. The Rangnick team will have to improve significantly against the defending champions.