A goal in slow-motion: perfect pass from Fran Kirby, perfect touch from Beth Mead, outrageous dink over a flailing goalkeeper. And then the ball bounced, slowed a touch given the wet pitch and 69,000 people in Old Trafford watched a race between animate and inanimate objects. The ball won; just about. In the stands, they leapt and screamed and danced in double speed, as if to help time catch up with itself.
The fan park was packed. Volunteers were smiling. The opening ceremony nobody really needed was cheered all the same because you can’t be curmudgeonly on opening night. The universal appreciation for taking the knee was noticeable. So too was the shrieking roar when the teams walked out. There was a half-time dance party.
The excited buzz outside Old Trafford started as early as Tuesday lunchtime, when several families in England shirts were taking photos outside the stadium. England had waited 16 years to host a major women’s football tournament, plus one more because of Covid-19. This team wants to have fun. Its audience does too.
All week, England coach Sarina Wiegman has appeared a little impatient at the hours spent waiting for this tournament to begin. She is a coach who much prefers action to words but words were all she had. Now her team is up and running, tested and occasionally shaky but ultimately, eventually superior. There is no better way to start a tournament; emphatic victories that allow expectations to run beyond reason are no help to anyone. Wiegman has good reason to demand more and we can be sure that she will.
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That is where the notion of the power of the crowd fragments a little. We need the players to calm us rather than the vice versa. It only takes one move, three or four crisp passes to feet that spark a break, and emotional tranquility is restored, at least to usual major tournament fever pitch.
Fran Kirby was that difference maker. It was her pass to Mead to set up the goal, but even before that she drove at Austria’s midfield and forced them onto the back foot. Kirby is a coiled spring of a footballer, a bundle of energy and endeavour. She is also remarkably efficient; 14 first-half passes but every one was issued with a purpose to take England forward. The Chelsea attacker was not a guaranteed starter for England’s opening match. You try and budge her out of the team now.
It was not perfect. England had made a habit in their pre-tournament friendlies of scoring a glut of late goals to add gloss to victory and performance. That has given fuel to the argument that Wiegman has the deepest squad of any country in this tournament – substitutes have made hay against tired legs.
But that didn’t really happen against Austria. England were never quite frantic and their opponents didn’t pin them back into their own penalty area for extended periods, but Mary Earps was forced into two sprawling saves, the first of genuine quality to send the ball wide for a corner. The assumption was that England would take advantage on the counter attack when Austria were forced to push players forward, but that didn’t happen either. They were too often wasteful or picked the wrong option.
But these are mere gripes, niggling concerns that will be ironed out over the days until England head to Brighton to face Norway. They will provide a sterner test for England’s defence; thoughts of that too can wait. England are up and running. A record attendance went home happy. Sarina is smiling. Sweet Caroline played and everyone swayed. Nothing else matters for now. Five more of these nights will do just fine.
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