England Defeat Austria In Women's Euro 2022 Opener At Sold-Out Old Trafford

England have started their Women's Euro 2022 campaign with a 1-0 victory over Austria.

Sarina Wiegman's side laid down an early marker in Group A thanks to Beth Mead's first half strike.

Fran Kirby floated a lovely ball towards Mead and the Arsenal forward made no mistake with the finish.

Mead took it down on her chest and lifted the ball over Austria goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger.

"Beth Mead blows the roof off Old Trafford!"

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— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 6, 2022

Carina Wenninger attempted to hook the ball off the line, but goal-line technology confirmed it had indeed crossed the line and Mead celebrated with her Lionesses teammates.

A sold-out Old Trafford came unglued, with 68,000 inside the stadium this evening.

Austria came into the contest in fine form after defeating Belgium in their final warm-up game last week, but failed to threaten.

England were wasteful in the first half and saw a number of opportunities go wide.

That continued in the second half and Alessia Russo came closest, but fluffed her lines from six yards out.

Austria forced Mary Earps into her first save 13 minutes from time, but the Manchester United ace turned Barbara Dunst's curling effort away.

There is genuine belief England can win this summer's tournament and Wiegman said her team were in a 'good place' last week.

The 52-year-old won Euro 2017 with the Netherlands five years ago and has experience in the competition.

"We always have things to improve, I think we're in a very good place but that'll show in the Euros," she admitted.

"These are all friendlies, it's very nice to learn from it but it really starts next Wednesday. We're in a very good place but still have to improve a couple of things."

Mead is a player who has benefitted from Wiegman's coaching the most and she's scored 13 goals in nine games under her management.

England return to action on Monday evening against Norway.