Equipe Tricolore and Oranje are four points in Austria Group D after two games and the first 0-0 draw of this European Championship.
France and the Netherlands shared points in Group D at the European Football Championship on Friday evening. Both teams are now on four points after two games without a goal in Leipzig. Austria are one point behind after a 3-1 win over the Poles with no points. As it stands, things look good for all three in the promotion race, with the four best third-placed sides progressing to the Round of 16.
On Tuesday (6pm) the ÖFB selection will meet the “Oranjes” in Berlin, while the French meet Poland in Dortmund. Whether Kylian Mbappe will return to action remains to be seen. The superstar watched the match against the Dutch from the bench after breaking his nose in Monday’s 1-0 win over Austria. It was the first goalless match in the previous high-scoring final. France’s goal in the opener came from a Maximilian Wobber own goal, and they never scored another own goal.
After the opening wins, both teams have only changed one position in their starting eleven. For the French, despite his position in central defensive midfield, the recovering Aurelian Dichoumeni replaced Mbappe. Ousmane Dembele, Marcus Thuram and Antoine Griezmann fronted the attacking line-up as captain.
Jeremy Frimpong was allowed to try his hand at right wing for the Dutch. Xavi Simons moved a step back and Joey Weirman was the only substitute. Woud Wekhorst was on the bench after scoring the winning goal as a “joker” in the 2-1 win over Poland. Frimpong immediately took center stage but was denied by Mike Mignon after 57 seconds. It was the start of a very tense first half-hour, in which parity was in the air several times, especially on the French side. Griezmann tests Bart Verbruecken with a shot (4th).
Ten minutes later, Adrien Rabiot should have finished from a better position, but played just a little too far past Griezmann, who fumbled in the move. In the same minute, the Atletico Madrid player did not miss a shot from eleven meters away. Mignon, on the other hand, had to stay on the post again for a Kakpo shot (16′), while France’s Durham flicked the ball in from a tight angle (28′).
As a result, the fans had only one more negative reaction before the break. A cup thrown by a Dutch fan hits Griezmann before the corner (41′) is taken. Even after the break it took a while for the game to pick up steam. The “Equipe Tricolore” were more interested in forcing the win and created a clear increase in chances from the 60th minute. It became dangerous almost every minute, but against Austria, the performance was lacking.
Durham (60th), Dichoumeni (63rd), Griezmann (65th) and Dembele (68th) all failed miserably after playing beautifully. Almost out of nowhere, the Dutch celebrated the opening goal, but only briefly. A goal by Xavi Simons (69th) was disallowed after a lengthy VAR review as Denzel Dumfries’ goalie may have interfered with Mignon in an offside position. A controversial situation to say the least. The 2018 world champion also came close to winning the final but could not manage it.
Mbappe, who scored five times in six games against the Dutch, has also failed to score four times in the two most recent European Championship qualifiers. For the Dutch, winning the point was a rare feat as they had previously lost seven of their eight recent meetings. Each time a streak of 14 international goals came to an end.
