Austria marked their ⁠return to ⁠the World Cup after a 28-year absence with a tense 3-1 win ⁠over debutants  Jordan in their Group J opener on Tuesday, relying ⁠on a second-half own goal and a last-gasp penalty from Marko Arnautovic to claim the three points.

Austria took the lead on 20 minutes through ‌a Romano Schmid thunderbolt, but were pegged back five minutes after the break when striker Ali Olwan found space in the area and fired a sizzling shot inside the far ⁠post.

Austria’s veteran target man ⁠Arnautovic slammed a low shot into the net from a goalmouth scramble in the 69th minute, but it was ruled out for handball by teammate ⁠Stefan Posch following a ⁠VAR review.

Seven minutes later, though, Austria were celebrating again as Yazan Al-Arab deflected a Marcel Sabitzer ‌corner into his own net, before Arnautovic slotted home a penalty deep into ‌stoppage ‌time after Saleem Obeid was penalised for handball.

Victory lifted Austria to second place in Group J, behind reigning World Cup winners Argentina, who took the top spot after Lionel Messi’s magical hat-trick steered them to a 3-0 win over Algeria earlier on Tuesday. Jordan sit third in the group, while Algeria are bottom.

Ghana’s fans and players celebrated wildly as Caleb Yirenkyi finished a sweeping counterattack ‌‌with a tap-in goal in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time to give the team a last-gasp win over Panama in both teams’ opening World Cup match in rainy Toronto.

The goal was followed by a melee before the referee blew the full-time whistle, sealing a 1-0 victory in the Group L match on Wednesday.

After Ghana quickly moved the play from their own half, Brandon Thomas-Asante drove ⁠⁠the ball into the 18-yard box down the left flank and rolled a pass towards the middle for Yirenkyi to redirect into the net.

The second half was in complete contrast with the very quiet first half.

The teams picked up the tempo in the second half, but scoring chances remained minimal until the decisive play.

Panama were the superior team before half-time, while Ghana dictated more of the play after the interval.

The match was viewed as a crucial showdown between teams expected to battle for third place ‌‌in Group L.

Earlier on Wednesday, England defeated Croatia 4-2 in a match between the group favourites.

At the start of the tournament, FIFA ranked England fourth, Croatia 11th, Panama at 34, and Ghana at number 73.

In the second minute, Ghana goalkeeper Lawrence Ati Zigi was called into action, diving to his right to stop a 15-yard volley attempt by Cecilio Waterman.

Panama had another half-chance in the 38th minute. Ati Zigi made ⁠⁠a leaping punch to clear a cross. The ball fell to ⁠⁠Panama’s Jiovany Ramos, who sliced his 14-yard, right-footed strike wide to the right

Ati Zigi was replaced at half-time due to an injury, with Benjamin Asare taking over in the net.

Ghana attempted no shots in the first half, the first ⁠⁠team in this year’s World Cup to accomplish that dubious feat. Jonas Adjetey ended the drought with a header, which Panama’s Orlando Mosquera ⁠⁠stopped in the 48th minute.

The Ghanaians were missing midfielder ⁠⁠Thomas Partey, who was denied a visa to enter Canada due to pending sexual-assault charges against him in the United Kingdom. He has denied the accusations. Partey will be available for Ghana’s other two group games, both to be played in the ‌‌United States.

Ghana are in the World Cup for the fifth time in the past six editions, with their best result being a quarterfinal appearance in 2010.

Panama are competing at just ‌‌their ‌‌second World Cup, having lost all three of their group-stage matches in 2018.

Both teams are back in action on Tuesday, with Ghana facing England in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and Panama opposing Croatia in Toronto.

A game that began with the prospect of a chastening defeat for Pakistan at South Africa’s hands did, indeed, end in defeat, but that didn’t quite tell the whole story.

South Africa savagely tore through Pakistan’s batting line-up, reducing them to 55 for 8 and setting up what looked like a run-rate boosting win. But Fatima Sana’s half-century, an unbeaten 38-ball 55, enabled Pakistan to scrap their way back into the contest, and put up 126.

That was still well below par, and a blistering half-century from Annerie Dercksen set South Africa on course. Instead Pakistan kept taking enough wickets to keep themselves in contention till late on, only for poor fielding to leave them swimming against the tide. South Africa eventually sealed a nervy win with two wickets and three overs to spare.

South Africa set the tone from the very first ball of the game, when Matizanne Kapp trapped Muneeba Ali in front. She finished the over with a gem of a ball that went through bat and pad after holding its line, and crashed into the top of Gull Feroza’s middle and off stumps.

It was only the start of the carnage South Africa were wreaking, with Kapp hobbling Ayesha Zafar with a yorker that landed on her foot in front of the stumps, while Ayabonga Khaka goaded Natalia Pervaiz into dragging on in the over that followed. Pakistan’s tendency to self-destruct with no fewer than four run-outs did not help, even if Sana’s brilliance gave them a total they could defend.

For four overs during the chase, they looked like that defence was very much on. South Africa were kept to just 20, while the irrepressible Sana had sent Sune Luus back. But Dercksen came in and blew Pakistan away through the middle overs with a devastating onslaught, kicking things off with 21 in an over off Rameen Shamim, punctuated by abysmal fielding from Pakistan. That was a theme running through the innings – Sana herself even put down two chances – but regular wickets kept Pakistan in with an outside chance.

However, just when the pressure began to tell, South Africa always found a way out with a boundary or a cameo. Even with the scores tied, Sana struck to remove Nadine de Klerk, the last recognised batter, leaving South Africa eight-down. However, as was the case throughout the game, Pakistan were their own worst enemy, with a stray wide down leg sealing the game for a relieved South African side.

It was bad enough for Pakistan that Kapp, and South Africa, were tearing through their line-up, but Pakistan gave them a helping hand with those four run-outs. Three of them were especially farcical, and were dotted around at key points during the innings just as they were beginning to rebuild.

The first to fall this way was Shamim, who watched the ball rather than her strike partner Iram Javed, before bizarrely turning around and giving Javed an earful after she was inevitably caught short. Javed might not have been at fault there, but then fell to an even more egregious bit of running, setting off for one after a routine clip to short midwicket rendered it virtually impossible. Completing the set was Nashra Sandhu, who was unlucky when her partner Sana tripped over the bowler, with Sandhu sacrificing herself. By now, Pakistan were 55 for 8.

Fatima Sana’s stunning innings

Sana could perhaps have pushed herself up the order, but she set about making up for lost time in a remarkable onslaught that somehow dragged her side back into the game. By the 15th over, Pakistan languished at 80 for 8, looking nowhere near able to put together even a remotely competitive score. But having taken the innings deep, Sana sprang her attack right at the death, kicking it off with a boundary off Kapp’s final delivery. With South Africa’s premier bowler out of the way, she unleashed in the overs that followed, culminating in a brutal final-over raid to plunder 19 off the over and power Pakistan to 126. It brought up her own half-century, with 42 runs coming off the innings final 19 balls.

Dercksen devastates Pakistan

As Sana batted on a different wicket to her teammates, Dercksen’s comfort was wholly at odds with the other batters’ nerves. When Pakistan threatened to turn the chase into a horrible scrap, she changed the complexion of the match with some of the cleanest power-hitting at this tournament. Shamim was taken to the cleaners in the fifth over as Dercksen used her bottom hand to repeatedly clear the mid-on and midwicket boundary, with her two sixes the biggest shots of the night from either team.

In between, she continued to expertly find the gaps, especially in the Powerplay, and take pressure off Laura Wolvaardt and Kapp at the other end. By the time she contributed her last run, South Africa needed just 51 in 63 with eight wickets in hand. It was a position of comfort that, even with South Africa’s jitters later on, they could not squander.

SCORES:
South Africa Women  127 for 8 in 16.5 overs  (Annerie Dercksen 52, Marizanne Kapp 10, Nadine de Klerk 37; Sadia Iqbal 2-26, Fatima  Sana 3-16, Nashra Sandhu 1-28, Tuba Hassan 2-28) beat Pakistan Women  126 for 9 in 20 overs (Iram Javed 11, Aliya Riaz 10, Fatima Sana 55*, Tuba Hasan 23; Marizanne Kapp 3-23, Shabnim  Ismail 1-15, Ayabonga Khaka 1-21)  by two wickets

[Cricinfo]