Austria, Jordan to meet under lights at Levi’s Stadium, as Messi looms

Instead of popcorn, prep some caffeine for Tuesday night. Jordan and Austria are scheduled for a 9 p.m. kickoff at Levi’s Stadium in World Cup group play. 

At least the sun will be down by then.

Santa Clara’s noon opener on Saturday, a thrilling 1-1 draw between Switzerland and Qatar, was met with a general heat advisory. The temperature at kickoff was only 74 degrees and peaked at 75 degrees, Ken Arneson of Weather Applied Metrics posted on Bluesky. But lack of cloud cover and limited shade at the stadium can often intensify how hot it feels while sitting in the sun for two hours.

According to Chronicle newsroom meteorologist Anthony Edwards, temperatures Tuesday are forecast in the mid-60s at kickoff and drop to the low-60s toward the end of the match with light winds. Any heat concerns are largely in the rearview for Levi’s Stadium. 

Its remaining kickoff times in the group stage are much later: 9 p.m. on Tuesday, 8 p.m. on Friday and June 22, and 7 p.m. on June 25. The round-of-32 match in Santa Clara on July 1 is slotted for a 5 p.m. start.

While tickets to the Jordan-Austria match appeared to be sold out and no longer available for direct purchase on FIFA’s website, as of Monday afternoon, 2,394 tickets were up for sale on FIFA’s resale marketplace. The cheapest ticket in category 4, the lowest category that includes the seats farthest away from the pitch, was $264.50. The most expensive ticket in category 4? Up to $6,900. 

Jordan and Austria are most likely fighting for second place in Group J, the same group as reigning World Cup champion Argentina and all-time soccer great Lionel Messi. Argentina recently reclaimed its position as world No. 1 ahead of the tournament. Austria ranks No. 24. The debutante Jordan is No. 65, the lowest ranking in the group.

On the soccer front, look for Jordan star winger Musa Al-Taamari and how he matches up against an Austrian side that has adopted a breakneck style of play under esteemed tactician Ralf Rangnick. 

Al-Taamari became the first Jordanian to debut in one of the five major European leagues with Montpellier (Ligue 1) in 2023. 

Austria, having hired Rangnick in 2022 after the national team missed a sixth consecutive World Cup, was a group winner in the 2024 European Championship for the first time and is back in the World Cup for the first time since 1998.