Braces from Alessia Russo and Beth Mead fired England to a 7-2 friendly win over Austria at Estadio Nuevo Mirador, Algeciras, Spain.
Russo fired England in front with a close-range third minute strike following Manuela Zinsberger’s fumble, before Grace Clinton headed in a 19th minute goal on her debut to double the Lionesses’ lead.
Beth Mead added their third goal with a 37th minute strike into the top-left corner whilst her Arsenal teammate, Russo netted her second goal from a 61st minute mistake by Austria’s Sarah Zadrazil.
Jess Carter’s 70th minute flicked effort from Lotte Wubben-Moy’s header plus a 89th minute rebound strike for Mead wrapped up a comfortable win for England, which was eventually sealed with an injury-time strike by Rachel Daly.
Virginia Kirchberger meanwhile headed in eventual consolatory goals for Austria from a 30th minute corner and 88th minute cross respectively.
England manager, Sarina Wiegman post-match spoke of pride at the team’s performance in an interview to ITV.
“I’m just really happy with this game. The way we played, the intentions we had, the dominance we wanted to have on the pitch. The defence pressed high and won the ball high up the pitch and then play from there. Most of the game we did that.
“We scored seven goals, which is really good. We created lots of chances. Could even have scored from a corner, they made a good save.”
Wiegman however acknowledged that her players need to improve their defending from set pieces, as she added: “I am happy with the seven goals of course, but there are also some little things we are not happy with.
“We conceded two goals from corners, one we didn’t block well and second we didn’t get the header. We could have done better on both, there are always things you want to improve.”
With Women’s Euro 2025 qualifiers commencing in the Spring, Sarina Wiegman opted to experiment with her line-up with four changes to the starting line-up which beat Scotland in their final match of 2023, as Mary Earps, Lucy Bronze, Keira Walsh and Lauren James dropped to the bench.
Fran Kirby meanwhile was set to start but picked up a knock in warm-up and was replaced by Ella Toone.
England however weren’t fazed by that late change once the match began as they started on the front foot, with Mead’s third minute shot fumbled by Zinsberger which Russo swept in to lash into the net to put the Lionesses ahead.
Austria struggled to mount much of an attacking threat in the opening 18 minutes and were quickly punished again, with Hemp free on the left to whip in a cross which debutant – Clinton nodded in beyond Zinsberger’s reach to double England’s lead.
Austria eventually grew into the game mid-way through the first half as Barbara Dunst rifled a 23rd minute shot over the bar, before Eileen Campbell pressured Alex Greenwood into conceding Austria’s first corner of the match.
Greenwood’s error proved fruitful for Austria as Katharina Naschenweng’s corner was headed in by Kirchberger to halve Austria’s arrears on the half-hour mark, as Kirchberger became only the second Austrian to score against England after Natascha Celouch in 2005.
Any hope of an Austrian comeback to restore parity before half time was almost snuffed out two minutes later as Russo teed up Toone to take a shot towards the left corner, only for Zinsberger to make a comfortable save.
England eventually added a third goal in the 37th minute after Niamh Charles’ low cross was fumbled by Russo, but Mead collected the ball and calmly curled into the top-left corner to restore their two-goal lead at half-time.
Greenwood and Hemp were substituted at half time for Lotte Wubben-Moy and James as Wiegman continued to rotate her squad selection.
Austria however were more resolute defensively in the opening minutes of the second half, as Toone flicked Georgia Stanway’s 51st minute pass wide across goal narrowly missing the bottom-right corner.
Wubben-Moy then saw a 54th minute header as England continued to dominate with patience, as their reward duly arrived seven minutes later through Russo’s clinical strike from an interception upon Zadrazil who was found dawdling on the ball.
England refused to settle for four goals despite this game only being a friendly and added a fifth goal in th 70th minute, as Wubben-Moy headed towards goal from Mead’s corner-kick but Carter managed to flick the ball into the bottom-left corner to secure the goal.
Austria however weren’t done as Kirchberger headed in her second goal of the match from a 88th minute cross, which meant that the Austrians have scored twice against England for the first time in all competitions.
Mead however put to bed any fears of a late defensive implosion for England after she fired in on the rebound, having pounced upon James’ shot which had been blocked by Zinsberger.
Substitute, Daly broke on the counter-attack in the third minute of injury-time and calmly smashed a thunderous strike into the top-left corner to cap a dominant performance for Wiegman’s Lionesses.
What’s Next?
England will host Italy in another international friendly at the same venue on Tuesday 27 February, albeit at the earlier time of 6pm CET (5pm UK Time).
Austria will face Denmark at Marbella at 4:30pm CET (3:30pm UK Time) on Wednesday 28 February in their second friendly of this international window.
Team News
England: Hannah Hampton, Maya Le Tissier, Esme Morgan, Alex Greenwood (Wubben-Moy 45′), Niamh Charles (Carter 62′), Grace Clinton (Park 62′), Georgia Stanway (Walsh 77′), Ella Toone, Beth Mead, Alessia Russo (Daly 62′), Lauren Hemp (James 45′)
Substitutes: Jess Carter, Khiara Keating, Fran Kirby, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Lauren James, Lucy Bronze, Keira Walsh, Rachel Daly, Jess Park, Mary Earps, Millie Turner, Aggie Beever-Jones
Austria: Manuela Zinsberger, Katharina Naschenweng, Marina Georgieva, Virginia Kirchberger, Katharina Schiechtl (Hanshaw 63′), Lilli Purtscheller, Sarah Zadrazil, Marie Hobinger (Billa 77′), Sarah Puntigam (Feiersinger 63′), Barbara Dunst (Kolb 88′), Eileen Campbell
Substitutes: Isabella Kresche, Jasmin Pal, Chiara D’Angelo, Jennifer Klein, Viktoria Pinther, Laura Feiersinger, Nicole Billa, Annabel Schasching, Verena Hanshaw, Lisa Kolb
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