Austria vs Jordan proved to be much closer than fans initially anticipated. Chances at both end filled most of the first half with Jamal Sellami embedding his counter-attacking play style effectively on Ralf Rangnick's possession-heavy side.

Both sides headed into the game fresh from witnessing Lionel Messi's record breaking hat-trick against Algeria leaving Argentina top of Group J.

It was Austria who opened the scoring 20 minute in through Romano Schmid who showed some individual brilliance to knock the ball out of his feet on the edge of the box before bending an audacious effort into the top right corner on his preferred right foot. 

Jordan remained in contention, hitting the crossbar only two minutes after going 1-0 down. A front post header from Ali Iyad Olwan came agonisingly close to a historic World Cup debut goal for Jordan.

There moment would come in the second half with 50 minutes on the clock through that man again, Ali Iyad Olwan. The 26-year-old winger broke free on the left hand side in an electric counter attack cutting in on his favoured right foot and curling his strike into the far corner striking the post and hitting the back of the net as the small Arabian nation erupted.

But it was too good to be true for the Jordanians as Austria's quality from the bench in the form of Marko Arnautovic. The veteran saw a goal disallowed in the 67th minute due to a handball in the buildup after the goalkeeper saw his punch drop in the penalty area to an Austrian shirt.

Moments later, the 37-year-old was at the centre of attention again as his attempted header saw the ball fall to a Jordanian shirt in the form of Yazan Abu Al-Arab, which deflected the ball into his own goal.

It wasn't meant to be for the Jordanians as they conceded a penalty in the dying embers of the game with a handball, leaving Arnautovic to confirm all three points with a spot-kick.

A respectable effort from Jordan, but the Austrian bench proved to be too much as Arnautovic showed his experience with a calm penalty to close the game.

Overall, no side were majorly tactically superior, but Austria's individual quality and ability to dig deep was enough to put the possibility of another World Cup upset to bed.

In a group which made fourth place seem inevitable for Jordan, their performance against Austria will give them a boost in confidence ahead of their next fixtures, particularly when they face Algeria, who are sat bottom of the group via goal difference.

Jamal Sellami's couture-attacking system proved to be effective with an abundance of chances created throughout the 90 minutes. Only a lack of top quality held the Jordanians back from adding points to their tally.

Jordan can carry their positives from this loss into California where they will have another chance to deliver.

It wasn't pretty but Austria did manage to get over the line with the quality, experience and depth pulling through for Ralf Rangnick.

Possession has always been a strength of Austria's game, but they need to be able to keep up with high intensity opposition attacks. Getting comfortable holding the ball in the opposition half leaves them vulnerable on the break, especially with fast, confident ball carriers as shown through Jordan's goal.

The fact is Austria got the three points and can take their positives and negatives into their next fixture against reigning champions Argentina who will be oozing with confidence.

Hope is well and truly alive for Jordan to surprise the world. They sit third in the group above Algeria on goal difference. The pair will clash next week in a must-win game for both sides if they want a chance of progressing to the knockouts.

The new format allowing the top eight third place teams gives more opportunity for the lower ranked teams to advance, but with the safety mark assumed as four points, both Algeria and Jordan will leave it all on the pitch come Tuesday.

Austria's clash against Argentina will be the toughest test so far under Rangnick with the world number ones hungry for more.