Under loud cheers, top favorite England and Wiegman win European Championship opening match

England have booked a tense 1-0 win over Austria in the first match at the European Championship for women. At a swirling Old Trafford, the Dutch national coach Sarina Wiegman breathed a sigh of relief after the final whistle; it had remained exciting until the last minute.

Afterwards, Wiegman was relieved that the head is off and especially that the first three points have been scored. “You really want to win a first game like this,” said the Dutchman, who was impressed by the atmosphere at Old Trafford. “Playing in this ambiance is so cool.”

Watch an interview with Wiegman after the match here:

The stadium exploded after just fifteen minutes of play, when Bethany Mead gave homeland England the lead against Austria.

After the cheers, there was a brief moment of despair when the VAR went to check the goal, but soon the ball turned out to be over the goal line and so Mead is definitively in the books as the first goalscorer of the tournament. The lead at that time did not do justice to the course of the game, Austria started more threatening.

After the early euphoria, there were still sporadic opportunities to note in the first half. Ellen White got two, but the experienced English striker headed wide both times. Most of the excitement came shortly before the break. Lauren Hemp had a good chance on behalf of England, but the margin remained one.

Wiegman brought in fresh forces fifteen minutes after the break to force the liberating 2-0. She switched no less than three times. Twenty minutes before the end, one of the substitutes, Alessia Russo, immediately had the opportunity to increase the margin. But the Manchester United player grazed the ball.

Austria started a final offensive fifteen minutes before the end, but that did not lead to great opportunities. However, the audience could still cheer when the speaker announced the number of spectators in the stadium: about 68,000 people were present.

After that it was again a matter of pinching the butt, but Austria failed to score in the two minutes of injury time.

The other countries in group A, Northern Ireland and Norway, will play their first group match tomorrow, the Netherlands will play for the first time on Saturday at 9 p.m. and then play against Sweden.

All matches of the European Championship are broadcast live on TV and online by the NOS.