Santa Clara, June 17 (IANS) Jordan midfielder Noor Al Rawabdeh believes his side can take valuable lessons from their historic FIFA World Cup debut despite suffering a 3-1 defeat to Austria in their Group J opener at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on Wednesday.

Making their first-ever appearance at the FIFA World Cup, Jordan matched Austria for long spells and were level at 1-1 until an unfortunate own goal in the 76th minute swung the contest in favour of the Europeans. Austria later added a penalty to secure victory, although the final scoreline did not fully reflect Jordan’s competitive display.

Jordan created several chances throughout the match and celebrated a historic moment when Ali Olwan scored the nation’s first-ever World Cup goal. The strike came after Al Rawabdeh threaded a perfectly weighted pass through the Austrian defence to set up the equaliser.

“We didn’t make the most of our chances. In the first half, we missed three clear opportunities to score, but we learned an important lesson from this match,” Al Rawabdeh said after the game.

“In big games, you might only get three or four chances, and you have to take them. In the end, we gave everything we had. This was our first match at the World Cup, and we are proud of our fans who came to the stadium today. I hope we can make them happy in the next match,” he added.

Despite the disappointment of defeat, Al Rawabdeh said Jordan had shed the nerves associated with playing their first match on football’s biggest stage.

“Austria have more experience than us in major tournaments, and that experience showed in front of goal. But we learned from this experience, we overcame our fear and we got rid of the pressure that comes with a first match. That means the next game will be more enjoyable for us,” he said.

Defender Mohammad Abualnadi echoed those sentiments, describing the occasion as a major achievement for the country while insisting the team must now focus on the challenges ahead.

“It is a huge achievement for us. Now we are looking ahead to what comes next in the tournament,” Abualnadi said.

“The small details were the reason we lost today. We had some easy chances in the first half that we failed to convert. What we need to do now is stay focused, correct our mistakes and improve on this. We hope to achieve what we want in the next match,” he added.

Jordan will next face Algeria on June 22 at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium before taking on reigning world champions Argentina in their final Group J fixture on June 27 at Dallas Stadium.

–IANS

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