Euro 24: Defense Wins; No Mbappe, France - Netherlands Draw Takes Group D To The Wire

It started with the Netherlands making a significant advance to the France goal area when Frimpong smashed a shot, only to be denied by Mike Maignan with a brilliant save. This pattern continued throughout the night, but the ultimate result was the first goalless match of Euro 24, which had already seen more than 50 goals. France went to Leipzig without their star player Kylian Mbappe, who was injured when Les Bleus played Austria last week.

In Mbappe’s absence, the French tried all the arrows in their quiver to score a goal, though without success. With Mbappe benched, Didier Deschamps relied on Atlético Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann, AC Milan’s Olivier Giroud, Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembélé, Inter Milan’s Marcus Thuram, and Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman. However, apart from some moments of craftsmanship from Griezmann, Thuram, and Dembele, most of the French offensive efforts hit the Netherlands’ defensive wall, which presented the best defensive performance so far in Euro 24.

There were also silly and lazy mistakes by the French. Juventus’ Adrien Rabiot missed at least two chances in front of the goal. Instead of aiming for the goal, the midfielder chose to pass the ball, even though he was just meters away from the goalkeeper.

With this result, Group D is going down to the wire, as only one point separates France and the Netherlands from Austria, while Poland is already officially out of the tournament. To advance, France and the Netherlands must win their respective games, or both upcoming games on Thursday need to end in draws, so the current table positions remain, and the leaders advance.

For Didier Deschamps, apart from the good defensive show mastered by Bayern Munich’s Dayot Upamecano, Barcelona’s Jules Koundé, Arsenal’s William Saliba, AC Milan’s Théo Hernandez and holding midfielder Ngolo Kante, there are a lot to worry. He needs to find a balance in his attack if the French are planning to reach the final that to be played on Olympiastadion Berlin on July 15. The same applies to Ronald Koeman as well to make the Oranges stronger. He has a week offensive strategy and he difinetely needs a talisman.