England’s Beth Mead had the honor of hitting the opening goal of the summer European Championships into Austria’s net. The hit that bounced the ball into the goal was thoroughly checked: first with goal line technology and then with VAR.
The summer 2022 European football championships started in Manchester, England. The English majority of the sold-out crowd of 68,871 people at Old Trafford got to celebrate the opening victory of the host country of the Games.
In the opening match of the EC tournament, England narrowly beat Austria 1–0. The first complete hit of the Games was scored by the Austrian goalkeeper by Manuela Zinsberger over England and the star player of Arsenal in the Super League Beth Mead. The hosts had chances to score additional goals, especially in the opening half, but England’s finishing was not the sharpest possible.
Mead’s goal also barely ended up in the score column. Built England’s game versatilely in the match Fran Kirby gave a free high ball behind the Austrian defense line, which Mead took possession of alongside. The English winger nicked the ball over the oncoming Zingsberger.
The leather ball bounced one ball’s length to the other side of the goal line, before the Austrian topper Carina Wenninger cleared it late through the top bar out of the goal. Spanish referee Marta Huerta De Azan however, the smart watch on the wrist alerted within a couple of seconds that the goal line technology had recognized the creation of a goal.
Huerta De Aza checked the creation of the goal after checking the goal situation again. However, the referee did not listen to the video referee, i.e. VAR, in the inspection about crossing the goal line again, but checked for offside in the situation.
The creation of the goal barely depended on the position of the hand. The Austrian couple who cleared the ball from behind the goal line could identify Wenninger as the lowest player just based on his left hand.
You can watch the main picture of England’s passing situation that led to the goal in the video on the spot.
VAR was used for the first time in women’s qualifying competitions in 2019 at the World Championships in France. The system is now being used for the first time in the women’s EC tournament.
“Sweet Caroline” was as fresh as last summer
In the end, Austria was very toothless in the attacking direction. The visiting team, which at times showed strong pressing and exploiting play, did not create a single more dangerous situation in the match England’s goalkeeper To Mary Earps.
Earps, who represents Manchester United at club level, had to stretch in his familiar stadium in the second half. The Austrian midfielder Barbara Dunst in the way of the shot. However, the Bayern Munich gambler’s shot went wide and Earps was able to bend his arm in time to the corner of the goal.
At the same time, however, Austria weakened its defense a little and was able to keep England out of the most dangerous places. Thus, Mead’s opening half hit remained the only one of the game.
The English public rewarded the home team, which was one of the early favorites for this summer’s EC tournament, in a familiar way. As at the summer 2021 European Championships for the men’s team, Old Trafford joined in a loud chant Neil Diamond’s To the rhythm of the classic song “Sweet Caroline” even now. The number of spectators in the match was the largest in the history of the European Championship so far.
– I would very much like to tell you what our coach (England’s head coach Sarina Wiegman) said, but there was such an uproar on the field that they heard nothing of what he said. We were all hooked on “Sweet Caroline.” He’ll probably break things up again in the locker room, match hero Beth Mead told the BBC after the game.
You can watch a clip of the home crowd’s final whistle celebration in the video below.
The English and Austrian competitions continue next Monday. At that time, England will face Norway in their second match of the initial group A, while Austria will play against Northern Ireland. You can find the entire EC tournament match schedule here.
The competition continues on Thursday with the match between Norway and Northern Ireland. The broadcast of the fight starts on TV2 at 21:30. Finland will open the European Championships on Friday against Spain. The preview starts on TV2 at 18.15.