Why Marko Arnautovic isn't starting for Austria against Jordan in the World Cup
Why Marko Arnautovic isn’t starting for Austria against Jordan in the World Cup originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Austria hasn’t played in the FIFA World Cup for more than a quarter-century, until Tuesday night.
Despite that, their all-time leading scorer has been left on the bench for their return, which comes against Jordan. Marko Arnautovic doesn’t start.
It’s a bit of a shock lineup decision just due to the overall narratives at play here.
Austria may have a number of different reasons for this, but the end result is that Arnautovic won’t be out there when this special return match starts.
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Why isn’t Marko Arnautovic starting?
Arnautovic’s absence doesn’t appear to be down to any reported injury. It seems to be just a strategic decision.
Now 37, Arnautovic isn’t the player he once was, and he likely doesn’t have his past fitness levels, either.
This could be a mixed case of Austria both wanting to give someone else a chance but also wanting to keep Arnautovic fresh enough for potentially tougher matches than Jordan.
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Jordan could certainly mount an upset bid here, but Austria’s hope will be to take care of business, maybe without much mileage on Arnautovic’s legs.
If they can get past Jordan without using Arnautovic for more than half an hour, Austria sets up much nicer to have a chance to get out of the group — assuming that at some point, Arnautovic can show off his scoring ability, too.
