Bringing to Germany a squad full of star players, the French team is identified as one of the two strongest candidates for the Euro 2024 championship. Even an unconvincing debut against Austria did not change the experts' view of the team that has reached the World Cup final twice in the past 6 years.
Kylian Mbappe worries
France can boast of a formidable squad depth, but clearly, the three major campaigns of the "Gaulois Rooster" since 2018 have relied heavily on the inspiration of Kylian Mbappe.
Statistics in the opening match of Euro 2024 between Mbappe (France) and Van Dijk (Netherlands) - Content: DONG LINH, Photo: REUTERS, Graphics: NGOC TRINH
For the first time in more than half a decade, France face the prospect of playing without their biggest star. Captain Mbappe is recovering from a broken nose sustained in the opening game against Austria in Duesseldorf. He put in a lot of pressure, forcing centre-back Max Woeber to put the ball into his own net, but late in the match, a violent collision with defender Kevin Danso left Mbappe seriously injured and forced him to leave the pitch before the end of the match.
The official announcement from the French Football Federation said that Mbappe does not need immediate surgery but implicitly admitted that the striker will have to wear a nose mask if he is fit enough to play against the Netherlands. This also means that Mbappe may have to sit out the big match in Leipzig because the short break between matches is not enough for him to recover.
Despite having prepared every option with or without Mbappe, coach Didier Deschamps was still really confused before the match started. France needed a win to secure an early ticket to the next round, which was also a condition for Mbappe to be able to rest completely until the knockout stage. The problem was that without the trump card, could "Les Bleus" defeat a strong Netherlands, a team without a striker whose attack is still considered the most dangerous in the world ?
France met the Netherlands twice in the Euro 2024 qualifiers and Mbappe scored a brace in both the 4-0 win in Paris and the 2-1 win in Amsterdam. Mbappe's influence is undeniable and France in matches without him lost 1-2 to Germany (friendly) in September 2023, or were held to a 0-0 draw by Canada right before Euro 2024, a friendly in which Mbappe only appeared late on from the bench.
France have come up with many alternative plans, from "super sub" Olivier Giroud, who shone at the 2022 World Cup when Karim Benzema was unexpectedly eliminated; pulling Marcus Thuram from the left wing to play in the center of the attack even though the son of the legendary Lilian Thuram has only scored 2 goals in 20 appearances for the national team; to Kolo Muani even though this striker is very lacking in confidence after a season in the shadow of Mbappe himself at PSG.
Opportunity of "Orange Tornado"
Despite spending a lot of energy in the victory over Poland, the Netherlands are considered to have many advantages when facing the French in the "early final" of Group D, including the fact that the opponent may lose captain Mbappe. The "Orange Storm" has lost 4/5 of the most recent matches against France and this is an opportunity for them to narrow the gap with the world runner-up team.
In the match against Poland, the Netherlands struggled to win 2-1 after having to fight back until the last minute. The brilliance of a few individuals helped the Netherlands get all 3 points. The attack is clearly a big problem for coach Ronald Koeman when Memphis Depay played below his potential, Xavi Simons is still confused with the Euro football field, Cody Gakpo played averagely and "super sub" Wout Weghorst does not always score when he enters the field.
"How to penetrate the solid French defense is a difficult problem for the Netherlands, but a draw is not too bad a result for Ronald Koeman's army.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/euro-2024-ha-lan-phap-2-gio-ngay-22-6-chay-dua-tim-chien-thang-196240620203209404.htm
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