Jordan 1-3 Argentina: FIFA World Cup Match Report

Argentina were two ahead by the interval, and from that point the final group match had nothing left to decide. It finished Jordan 1-3 Argentina, a scoreline that reads closer than the ninety minutes warranted: the contest was effectively over at 0-2, and Jordan's goal arrived in a second half Argentina had already won.

The half-time split is the whole story. Argentina came into the last round with six points and a 5-0 aggregate from their first two matches, needing nothing from this fixture, and still put two past Jordan before the break. Jordan arrived without a point, beaten 3-1 by Austria and then 2-1 by Algeria, and the pattern of both those defeats repeated here. They scored, which they had done in every match of the group, and they conceded more, which they had also done in every match of the group.

Three goals conceded took Jordan's tournament total to eight against three scored. Argentina finished with eight scored and one conceded, the only side across the twelve groups to give up a single goal in three matches. Jordan's goal was that one. For a team eliminated without a point, it is a small thing to hold onto, but it is a genuine one.

Nothing in the narrow sense. Argentina were already through as group winners before kick-off and Jordan were already out. What it settled was the shape of the final table: Argentina took a maximum nine points from a 8:1 record, the strongest group return of any side in the tournament, and went into the knockout rounds with a defensive line no other qualifier could match.

Jordan finished bottom on zero points. Behind Argentina the group stayed tight to the end, with Algeria and Austria both closing on four after their 3-3 draw the same night. Jordan's tournament ends with three goals scored across three matches and no reward for any of them. Argentina's ended six matches later, beaten 1-0 in extra time by Spain in the final.

Our pre-match call was Double Chance 1X (Jordan or Draw) at 1.42. It was a bet on a dead rubber staying dead: Argentina had qualified, Jordan had not, and the assumption was that a side with nothing left to play for would let the point go. Argentina did not treat it that way. Two goals inside forty-five minutes removed the draw from the equation before the bet had any chance to work.

The misjudgement was reading Argentina's early qualification as a reason to expect less from them. The group table says the opposite. They conceded once in three matches and won all three. A side building that kind of record does not switch it off for the final ninety minutes, and the price of 1.42 was never compensation for assuming they would. Verdict: lost