The football players of the Netherlands played 0:0 with France in the hit of Friday’s Euro program. The division of points decided that the Poles, who have no points, will definitely not advance from Group D.
The Dutch and the French have four points and the Polish team lost to Austria today, so even if their three-point advantage is matched, they will not move from the guaranteed non-promotional fourth place.
Although the Dutch beat the French goalkeeper Mike Maignan in the 69th minute in Leipzig, Xavi Simons’ goal was subsequently disallowed by the referee after a VAR review. Thus, the first goalless match was born at the tournament.
The French, under Didier Deschamps, have won seven of their eight previous matches with the Netherlands. The two teams met already in the qualification and France won both duels with a total score of 6:1.
But Mbappé, who did not start today, shone in them. The team’s biggest star, whose broken nose was watched with tension by the whole country, including President Emmanuel Macron, sat only on the substitutes’ bench. And she didn’t even run to the field in a special protective mask.
Griezmann moved to the point, who also took over the captain’s armband, and the free place was taken by midfielder Tchouaméni, Mbappé’s future teammate from Real. The Dutch certainly breathed a sigh of relief. Mbappé has already scored six goals for them, more than any other country.
Sami also made one change in the lineup, but more to strengthen the offensive, when midfielder Veerman was replaced by Frimpong. Not even the winning goal in the match against Poland earned Weghorst a place in the starting line-up.
Frimpong showed his famous speed in the first minute with a break down the wing and keeper Maignan had a lot to do to push his shot out for a corner. On the other side, Griezmann headed under the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area.
In the 14th minute, the French had a huge chance when they found themselves two in front of the goalkeeper. However, Rabiot still looked for Griezmann with a pass, who was not expecting it at all, and the ball got tangled under his feet.
Both teams initially played attractive offensive football. Dutchman Gakpo spiced it up with a shot from distance, on the other hand Thuram aimed too high. But as time went on, the match turned into more of a tactical battle where no one wanted to make a mistake, and the fed-up crowd started to get bored.
It wasn’t until an hour into the game that Thuram tried to dispel the general lethargy, but missed the goal. After all, the French tried harder to change something. Tchouaméni headed just over the crossbar. Griezmann was close, but goalkeeper Verbruggen stopped his not very emphatic finish with a split.
When the “oranje” got a chance after a long time, Simons promptly sent the ball into the net. However, he enjoyed the goal in the stadium where he is at home as a player of the local club for only a moment before it was canceled by the video referee for offside. Then the opponent took the initiative again, but without effect.
The goalless balance was not changed even by the feared scorers Giroud and Weghorst, who came to the pitch as substitutes.
“We were good in defense and in tactics, only the damn goal was missing. I had two good opportunities, it’s a shame that they were left hanging on my leg,” French captain Griezmann regretted.
Tireless midfielder N’Golo Kanté, who was named man of the match for the second time, added: “I have mixed feelings. We defended well and had chances, but nothing came of it. We want to win every game, I believe we can do it next time.”
Dutch captain Virgil van Dijk was sorry for the disallowed goal. “I think he should have paid. But I can live with one point. When you play against France, it’s not strange that you get into trouble sometimes. The important thing was that we defended well, that was the basis,” Van Dijk said.
On Tuesday, starting at 18:00, group D will be completed by the matches between the Netherlands and Austria in Berlin and France and Poland in Dortmund.
Group D:
Leipzig: Netherlands – France 0:0
Referees: Taylor – Beswick, Nunn – Attwell (video, all English). ŽK: Schouten (Netherlands). Audience: 40,000.
Nizozemsko: Verbruggen – Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Aké – Schouten (73. Veerman), Simons (73. Wijnaldum), Reijnders – Frimpong (73. Geertruida), Depay (79. Weghorst), Gakpo. Trener: Koeman.
Francie: Maignan – Koundé, Upamecano, Saliba, Hernandez – Tchouaméni, Kanté, Rabiot – Dembélé (75. Coman), Thuram (75. Giroud), Griezmann. Trenér: Deschamps.
