England She started her campaign in the UEFA Women’s European Championship 2022 with a 1-0 victory over Austria.
Sarina Wiegman’s side set an early mark in Group A thanks to Beth Mead’s shot in the first half.
Meade dropped the ball to her chest and hoisted the ball over Austria goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger.
Carina Wenninger attempted to hook the ball away from the line, but goal-line technology confirmed she had already crossed the line and Mead celebrated with her Lionesses teammates.
Old Trafford came untied, with 68,000 on the field this evening.
Austria entered the match well after beating Belgium in their last friendly match last week, but failed to threaten.
England wasted in the first half and saw a number of chances.
That continued into the second half and Alicia Russo was the closest, but upset her lines from six yards.
Austria forced Marie Herbs to save her first with 13 minutes left, but Manchester United’s Lars kept Barbara Dunst’s effort away.
There is a real belief that England can win a championship this summer and Wegman said her team was in a “good place” last week.
The 52-year-old won the 2017 European Championship with Holland five years ago and has experience competing.
She admitted: “We always have things to improve, I think we are in a very good place but that will show in the Euro.”
“All these are friendly matches, it is very good to learn from them but they start next Wednesday. We are in a very good place but we still have to improve some things.”
Mead is a player who has benefited the most from Wegman’s coaching and has scored 13 goals in the nine games under her management.
England are back in action on Monday night against Norway.
