Source : the age
That’s it for the first half of our last match of the day. Can Jordan hold on to this lead and win their first World Cup match? Or will Algeria come back to claim their first points of the tournament?
Jordan 1-0 Algeria, half-time
The underdogs have scored first in Santa Clara with a goal from Jordan’s Al-Rashdan, who sneaks the ball past Zidane.
It’s a fairytale goal for Jordan when Al-Taamari misfires in attempting to strike the ball, accidentally kicking the air. The ball keeps rolling to his right and lands before Al-Rashdan, who gets enough behind the ball with his right boot to score.
Jordan 1-0 Algeria, 36 minutes
Few people can claim to be as familiar with both Paraguay and the Socceroos ahead of their World Cup clash as Fernando Romero.
The only Paraguayan to play in the A-League Men, Romero worked under Tony Popovic and alongside Jason Geria, Paul Izzo and Nishan Velupillay at Melbourne Victory, scoring twice in 10 games in 2023.
Romero, 26, also played alongside many Paraguay players at youth international level, and with and against others in the country’s top domestic league.
He is good friends with midfielder Damian Bobadilla and played with Matias Galarza, who scored against Turkey, and several others.
We have kick-off in the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium (that’s a mouthful) in Santa Clara.
Jordan win a free-kick in the first minute and Al-Rashdan gets his head to the cross by Mahmoud Al Mardi. If this match has started how it will continue then Luca Zidane (son of Zinedine Zidane) will have his work cut out for him – again. He had a tough opening match in this tournament, being the man who let in Messi’s first-ever World Cup hat-trick.
Considering Messi has played in six World Cups and now 28 World Cup matches, you’d hate to be the guy who finally conceded the treble.
Algeria 0-0 Jordan, 3 minutes
Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey said he was “ready to play” against England on Tuesday after missing his side’s World Cup opener, with the midfielder’s return bringing renewed scrutiny over his participation in the tournament.
Partey was unable to travel to Canada for Ghana’s 1-0 victory over Panama in Toronto after his visa application was refused as he is facing seven charges of rape and two of sexual assault in Britain. He has denied the allegations.
Partey rejoined the squad ahead of the Group L match against England in Boston.
“I think for me now it’s part of football,” Partey said. “Things happen outside football that you cannot control but for me now I feel OK and I am ready to play.”
The former Arsenal midfielder said he was looking forward to facing familiar opponents from his time in London, including England internationals Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka.
England’s Football Association has said England players will not answer questions about Partey.
Reuters
There’s one match to go today and both sides – Jordan and Algeria – are searching for their first World Cup points after both losing their opening matches.
The sides are meeting in San Francisco Bay Area Stadium in Santa Clara and are group mates with Argentina and Austria.
Jordan are slightly ahead of Algeria because of a single goal scored against Austria, scored by Ali Olwan, who returns in the starting XI.
San Francisco: The noise from back home has reached Camp Socceroo, but it has failed to penetrate the team’s protective bubble and bounced away to safety.
Inside the bubble, players and staff are focusing only on the bright side of their World Cup campaign – critics be damned.
After two games, Australia have three points, which is about where most people thought they would be now, if not slightly ahead of expectations. According to data analysts Opta, Australia are a 93.22 per cent chance of reaching the knockout phase ahead of their final Group D match against Paraguay on Friday (12pm AEST) in Santa Clara. Which Socceroos fan doesn’t like those odds?
In years past, that loss would have been it for Senegal, knocking them out of the tournament. But not this year. With the expanded format, Senegal will go head-to-head with Iraq next and have a chance to secure a spot as one of eight best third-placed teams. They’ll need to win that match and improve their goal difference to do so.
Here’s what Group I looks like after the second group-stage matches:
After their 3-2 victory, the Norway team sat down on the pitch and led the stadium into the Viking row chant to seal their passage into the next stage of the tournament. Odegaard manned the drum. Take a look:
