Manchester, July 7 (BUS): The European Women’s Championship kicked off with pre-match fireworks for a tournament-record crowd, but there was little brilliance from hosts England as they battled for a 1-0 win over Austria at Old Trafford.
The crowd of 68,871 was the biggest in a European Championship match, beating a previous best with 41,301 from the 2013 Euro final in Sweden, and the enthusiasm of the young and rowdy crowd got England off to a lively start, Reuters reports.
Beth Mead had the decisive 16th minute goal for the lionesses – hitting the ball over Austria goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger after being saved by Fran Kirby.
Although Austrian defender Karina Weininger valiantly tried to clear the goal line, with her effort hitting the crossbar and sweeping it wide, the ball was judged to have crossed the line.
It was Meade’s 15th goal in most games for her country and Ellen White, Lion’s all-time leading scorer, came close to adding a second, ten minutes later, heading home from Lauren Hemp’s cross over sight.
I felt England could make comfortable progress quickly with Georgia Stanway finding space for creativity and Kirby delivering some clever passes to the left.
But the Austrians settled into compact form and at times threatened to break while England gradually ran out of early inspiration.
Sarina Weigmann’s side struggled to create clear chances and lacked sharpness in attack as the Dutchman made a three-way substitution in the 64th minute in an attempt to add some excitement.
Austria were in a poor position for most of the match but came close to equalizing in the 78th minute – England goalkeeper Mary Erbs was doing well in keeping him away from Barbara Dunst.
“It was the first match of the tournament,” said Wigmann, who won the tournament as coach of the Netherlands in 2017.
“It is very important to win the match so that we have a good start. I think we showed different stages in this match, some good and some not so good,” she added.
Mead was even more eccentric after the audience sang at the end of the match.
She told the BBC: “Beyond words. What a great night to start the tournament with a win. I’m really happy to score a goal for the team.”
Northern Ireland and Norway, England’s other Group A rivals, will face each other on Thursday in Southampton.
Austria manager Irene Fuhrmann was pleased with the way her team handled the match.
“I am very proud of our performance and the way we played,” she said. “But at the end of the day we will leave without points and that is a huge disappointment.”
“In the second half we showed a good offensive reaction, showed courage and created some chances, but of course England dominated and deserved to win.”