France met Netherlands earlier today in Leipzig, Germany, for Group D action at the Euro 2024.
These are considered the two tops teams in Group D, with Austria and Poland both being considered the underdogs. It should be noted that Austria handled Poland with relative ease earlier in the day, with a 3-1 win that puts them solidly in third place behind Netherlands and France. Should either side slip and lose the next game, Austria could very well go in place of them.
Les Bleus and the men in orange hardly played a fascinating game. In fact, it was a dull affair by the standards of most viewers.
One newsworthy and unusual thing is that Kylian Mbappé had to wear a mask, because he had suffered a broken nose in the previous game, when France narrowly defeated Austria. In fact, Mbappé will have to wear the mask for the duration of the tournament, although France also said that surgery would not be required. Hard to tell if this inhibited his level of play today or not.
France held onto the ball for about 62 percent of the time, and enjoyed an advantage of 12 attempts, tom just 4 for Netherlands. However, Netherlands had all 4 of those shots on target, while France had just 3 on target.
Otherwise, not too much to report from this game, other than that it was not wonderful or disastrous for either side. They both earned a point from the draw, and by virtue of their earlier wins (Netherlands had defeated Poland in the opening game, while France had beaten Austria), they both have 4 points, and seem in good shape to advance to the elimination round, barring a disastrous showing in their final games. France will play Poland on Tuesday, June 25th, while Netherlands will play Austria on that same day. Then, we will find out which sides from Group D advance to the elimination round of this Euro.
It should prove interesting to see what happens.
Netherlands 0-0 France: Euro 2024 – as it happened | Euro 2024 6 hours ago
https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2024/jun/21/netherlands-v-france-euro-2024-buildup
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