The party at the start of the Women's Euro Cup is put on by the public with a record attendance in the tournament

Straight

Beth Mead blows past Austrian goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger in 1-0 action. CARL RECINE (REUTERS)

Old Trafford full, record attendance in a Women's European Football Championship (68,871 spectators; the absolute was 91,648 for Barça-Wolfsburg) and a victory for England.

The party was more in the stands than on the field, the scene of an inaugural match that took place without great lights with the ball in between.

The hostess, one of the teams that starts the event with the favorite sign hanging around her neck, resolved her coming-out mate in a very impressive place that responded to the call of her own.

On the pitch, however, there wasn't much of England against a lower-court Austria that barely felt alive at the start and in their late approaches.

Only the restlessness of the scoreboard added some intrigue to the night.

INGEngland

1

Mary Earps, Lucy Bronze, Millie Bright, Leah Williamson, Rachel Daly, Fran Kirby, Georgia Stanway, Beth Mead, Lauren Hemp, Keira Walsh, and Ellen White

AU Austria

0

Manuela Zinsberger, Carina Wenninger, Viktoria Schnaderbeck, Laura Wienroither, Verena Hanshaw, Barbara Dunst, Sarah Zadrazil, Laura Feiersinger, Sarah Puntigam, Katharina Naschenweng, and Nicole Billa

Goals

1-0 min.

15: Beth Mead.

The suffering and orphaned Spain of Alexia Putellas will have its turn this Friday against Finland (6:00 p.m., TVE) and, if it passes the first phase (two out of four pass), it would cross paths with those classified in group A, where in addition to England and Austria are Norway and Northern Ireland.

Due to his potential and status as a great contender, no one doubts England's candidacy to lift the trophy at Wembley.

And after a quarter of an hour he left one of those signs that distinguish the favorites: scoring without hardly deserving it.

Austria had started looking better, albeit without chances, and the hosts had only come close with two harmless headers.

But the first one the Lionesses had ended up inside.

She found a hole down the center and Beth Mead found herself face to face with the goalkeeper, Manuela Zinsberger, who was stung by the ball.

By the time she wanted to take it out Wenninger, the ball had already slipped in, as the technology told the second to the Spanish referee Marta Huerta de Aza.

Tonight's attendance is the 𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐒𝐓 in Women's EURO history 🤩

Off to a record-breaking start 🙌#WEURO2022 pic.twitter.com/gf91uk2Aba

– UEFA Women's EURO 2022 (@WEURO2022) July 6, 2022

The blow daunted the Central Europeans, who took a world to approach the other shore again.

From then on, the night came under English control and the girls of Sarina Wiegman (Dutch who became European champion in 2017 and runner-up in the world in 2019 to her country) were able to show another of their characteristics that connects with football all life on the islands: the aerial game.

Balls to Ellen White were constant.

She put it wonderfully by Hemp from the left and the British striker finished as no one expected at Old Trafford, going wide.

And five minutes later, another hanging ball was far from the City attacker in the middle of the English monologue.

The best sentencing option before the break, yes, did not come from above, but from below, in a one-on-one that Zinsberger took from Hemp.

More information

Spain in the Women's European Championship: where to watch the national team's matches

The pause did not change the landscape in Manchester much.

More local control, always with that slow, somewhat tiresome pace, and very little from Austria.

England's attacking load wasn't scary either, so the England coach operated ruthlessly: Mead, the scorer, and White, the great attacking reference.

However, the effect was far from expected.

The game was diluted, England lost presence, they no longer had the threat in the air and, in that confusion and with the disturbing passing of the minutes, Austria felt that a door was opening for them.

Dunst had it 10 minutes from the end with a tricky shot that Earps took well, then called for another shot from the edge of the box.

A threat to which England responded with more soccer control to tie up the debut in the middle of the party, which added another record number of public to a soccer game practiced by women, this time in a European Championship.

There are plenty of bell stadiums at this event, but Old Trafford took long shots to host the premiere.

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