Hello and welcome to live coverage of the World Cup match between Austria and Jordan at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium. Kick-off in this Group J game is 9pm local/12am EDT/5am BST/2pm AEST – or 6am CEST/7am EEST for those watching from the homelands of the competing teams.

Reigning world champions Argentina are widely expected to top the group that also includes Algeria but the remaining spot – or two – to progress to the knockouts is very much up for grabs.

The two sides meeting today in Santa Clara are perhaps among the first beneficiaries of the expansion of the tournament to 48 teams. Austria return to the grand stage for the first time since 1998 and for their eighth visit overall, while Jordan make their World Cup debut.

Austria’s 28-year absence from the showpiece event ended when they topped their Uefa qualifying group ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina and avoided the drama of the playoffs. Veteran striker Marko Arnautović was critical to the No 24-ranked side’s qualification with eight goals, while Marcel Sabitzer remains their main creative outlet. The high-intensity, manic press that has come to define coach Ralf Rangnick’s various reigns across clubs and country will be a feature as Austria seek to control possession and territory against the lowest-ranked side in Group J.

Jordan, on the other hand, have booked their spot at the World Cup for the first time with a gameplan centred around a solid defence and counterattacks. The No 65-ranked side began their march towards a global tournament debut when reaching the Asian Cup final for the first time in 2023 with a shock win over South Korea in the semis. Jordan paid the price for giving away three penalties in a 3-1 defeat by Qatar in the decider but carried their momentum into the World Cup qualifiers. Al-Nashama (The Chivalrous Ones) were especially impressive playing away from home as they booked their World Cup ticket with an automatic qualification spot when second in the group behind South Korea.

I’ll be back shortly with the line-ups and team news – and the latest from the World Cup. In the meantime, get in touch with any questions, thoughts and predictions. You can shoot me an email, or find me on Bluesky @martinpegan.bsky.social. Let’s get into it!