England vs Austria LIVE: Euro 2022 result, final score and reaction as Beth Mead wins it for Lionesses
Follow all the reaction as the Lionesses begin tournament with win at Old Trafford
Hosts England made a winning start to their Euro 2022 campaign by beating Austria 1-0 in front of a tournament record crowd of 68,871 at Old Trafford.
Beth Mead grabbed the decisive goal in the 16th minute for the Lionesses and although Sarina Wiegman’s team struggled to create clear-cut chances, they will be delighted with the three points.
Austria were on the back foot for much of the game but came close to a leveller in the 78th as England goalkeeper Mary Earps did well to keep out a curling effort from Barbara Dunst.
England’s other Group A rivals, Northern Ireland and Norway will face each other on Thursday in Southampton.
Follow all the reaction from the opening match of Euro 2022 with our live blog below:
England 0-0 Austria
9 mins: Good defending from Lucy Bronze to stop Verena Hanshaw advancing down the left wing. Bronze earns a throw in and England move it quickly into the midfield to Keira Walsh.
It comes back to Millie Bright who laces a diagonal pass over the top and finds the run of Lauren Hemp. Hemp brings it under control and takes the ball to the byline before lifting it into the middle of the box.
Ellen White leaps to reach it but the ball is slightly behind her and her headed effort lands safely in the arms of Manuela Zinsberger.
England 0-0 Austria
6 mins: Austria win a corner but fail to capitalise on it and England transition swiftly into a counter attack with Beth Mead driving forward down the inside right channel.
She works the ball over to Lauren Hemp whose first touch lets her down allowing Carina Wenninger to get across and clear the Austrian lines.
England 0-0 Austria
3 mins: Rachel Daly feeds the ball down the left wing and picks out Lauren Hemp. The England winger darts inside using her pace to drive forward before she’s brought down.
England win the first free kick of the match.
Hemp swings it into the box but her cross sails over Ellen White and doesn’t reach Lucy Bronze at the back post as Manuela Zinsberger trots off her line to claim it.
Kick off: England 0-0 Austria
Perhaps the biggest surprise for England is that Leah Williamson starts in defence after playing each of the warm-up games in midfield. She’s played there before and slotting in at centre-back allows more attacking options in midfield for the Lionesses.
Both teams take the knee before Austria get the match started.
England vs Austria
Here come the players! Leah Williamson is at the front of the pack for England. She’s been given the task of leading them through the tournament. Will she get her hands on the trophy at the end of it? We can hope.
The national anthems come next. First Austria’s, then England’s.
The first match of Euro 2022 is about to get underway.
England vs Austria
The Euros 2022 opening ceremony is starting on the Old Trafford pitch. Flags of all the participating nations are brought out. There’s smoke filling the air and music is blazing out of the loud speakers.
Old Trafford is sold out. The atmosphere is fantastic.
England vs Austria
This is the eighth meeting between England and Austria in all competitions, with the Lionesses winning all seven previous games, scoring 22 goals and conceding just once.
Austria are yet to score against England on English soil in four previous games against the Lionesses.
England have won their opening game at just three of their previous eight UEFA Women’s European Championship tournaments, although they did win 6-0 against Scotland in their first match at the 2017 edition.
England vs Austria team news
A reminder of the two teams this evening. Beth Mead getting the nod over Chloe Kelly out wide for England, while Rachel Daly is at left-back ahead of Alex Greenwood.
Skipper Leah Williamson will likely line up at centre-back alongside Millie Bright. She’s equally as comfortable in defensive midfield but impressed against Switzerland in the warm-up games at CB.
England XI: Earps, Bronze, Bright, Williamson, Daly, Stanway, Walsh, Mead, Kirby, Hemp, White
Austria XI: Zinsberger, Wienroither, Wenninger, Schnaderbeck, Hanshaw, Puntigam, Dunst, Zadrazil, Feiersinger, Naschenweng, Billa
England vs Austria
Both teams have completed their warm-ups and headed back to the dressing room - we’re about 15 minutes from kick-off at Old Trafford and the atmosphere is already rocking.
England’s opportunity to showcase pedigree on home soil as Continent’s finest awaits
The last time England hosted the Women’s European Championship, only one part of England really saw any of it, writes Northern Football Correspondent Mark Critchley.
The eight-team tournament in 2005 was played entirely within the confines of the North West, stretching as far north as Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road but no further south than the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington. Germany ran out 3-1 winners against Norway at Ewood Park in front of a crowd of 21,105. England finished bottom of their group, by the way.
Seventeen years later, the next three-and-a-half weeks promise to demonstrate how much has changed since. It all begins in the North West once again – England host Austria at Old Trafford in tonight’s curtain-raiser – and although there is strangely no North East representation, the 10 venues stretch from Leigh down to Brighton, and the tournament will culminate in a Wembley final that has already sold all 87,200 tickets. More than 500,000 have been sold across all of the games.
That is not only a record but double the total sold for the last Euros in the Netherlands five years ago. The worldwide broadcast audience for the 2017 tournament hit 178 million but that too is set to be comfortably surpassed. Whereas Channel 4’s live coverage largely focused on the fate of the home nations then, every match will be available to watch across the BBC’s platforms now. This will be the biggest Euros yet, demonstrating the rapid pace of the game’s progress. And so, it is perhaps only right to stop and take a breath.
England’s opportunity to showcase pedigree on home soil as Euro 2022 awaits
The group stage should present no problem for the hosts but there’s just one objective this summer: to go the entire distance
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