Euro 2024: France and the Netherlands tied 0-0 in the European Cup amid Mbappe’s absence

Deschamps made one change for the French national team, returning Aurelien Chouamini to the midfield, noting that he had been suffering from an injury in his left foot for nearly a month, and his last participation dates back to May 8.

In turn, coach Ronald Koeman made only one change to the Netherlands squad that won over Poland 2-1 in the opener, bringing in German Bayer Leverkusen striker Jeremi Frimpong instead of PSV Eindhoven midfielder Joey Firman to increase the attacking threat.

In a quick start, a minute after the referee’s whistle, French goalkeeper Mike Maignan blocked Frimpong’s shot, and three minutes later, captain Antoine Griezmann responded with a ball from outside the area that had goalkeeper Bart Verbrugen waiting.

Adrian Raybault wasted a golden opportunity after a wonderful ball from Marcus Thuram inside the area put him in front of the goalkeeper, so he preferred to pass to Griezmann instead of shooting (14).

Once again, Minyan was decisive by blocking Cody Khakpo’s shot with his left foot (16).

France controlled the ball by 61 percent, without scoring, although it shot five balls like the Dutch team, so the first half ended in a goalless draw.

The French national team began the second half pressing, as Ousmane Dembélé passed a cross into the area, and Aurélien Chouamini headed over the goal (63).

Griezmann almost did it after a pass from N’Golo Kante inside the area passed in front of all the defenders and reached the Spanish Atletico Madrid striker. He shot after he lost his balance and his ball collided with goalkeeper Verbruchen’s foot (65).

The Netherlands thought they had achieved the most difficult thing after a shot by Memphis Depay was blocked by goalkeeper Maignan and returned to Xavi Simons, who shot it powerfully into the net. However, the referee raised the offside flag on Denzel Dumfries, who was near goalkeeper Maignan, and the decision was confirmed by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) (VAR) 70).

Koeman made three changes at once, removing Simons, Frimpong, and Yerde Schouten, and introducing Georginio Wijnaldum, the Saudi Al-Ettifaq player, and Lotsharil Khairtrauda and Joey Firman (73), and Deschamps responded two minutes later by introducing veteran striker Olivier Giroud (37 years old) and Kingsley Coman instead of Thuram and Dembele (75).

Depay left his place to Wout Wechhorst (79), without either team being able to score the winning goal.

The Netherlands has lost only one match out of the last 18 major tournaments, whether it was in the World Cup or the European Cup, compared to 12 wins and 5 draws, and it was against the Czechs 0-2 in 2021.

This is the fourth confrontation between the two teams in the continental championship, as France won on penalties in the 16-final in 1996, while the Netherlands won the two group stage matches (3-2 in 2000 and 4-1 in 2008).

Mbappe did not leave the bench after training with a mask inspired by the colors of the French flag on Thursday, but coach Didier Deschamps decided not to risk his inclusion.

There were initially concerns about the possibility of the future Real Madrid striker, who recently moved to their ranks from Paris Saint-Germain, participating in the remaining two matches in the tournament after blood flowed from his nose as a result of his collision with the shoulder of Austrian defender Kevin Danso.

The 25-year-old striker did not need surgery, as he seeks to open his scoring tally in the continental championship, after scoring 12 goals in two World Cups (Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022), without finding the net in five matches in the European Cup.

Austria revived its hopes of skipping the group stage with its deserved victory over Poland 3-1 on Friday at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin in the second round of the fourth group competitions in the European Football Cup finals in Germany.

Dutch Feyenoord defender Gernott Trauner (9), German Leipzig midfielder Christoph Baumgartner (66), and Italian Inter striker Marko Arnautovic (78 from a penalty kick) scored Austria’s goals, and Istanbul Basaksehir’s Turkish striker Krzysztof Piatek (30) scored Poland’s goal.

Austria, which was seeking in its fourth participation to repeat its achievement in the last edition when it reached the final 16 for the first time in its history before being eliminated after extra time (1-2) by Italy, which later won the title, compensated for its loss to France 0-1 in the first round, and it followed them both. Temporarily to the forefront.

Austria made the task difficult for its rival, Poland, which was left out of the finals with its second loss in a row after the first, to the Netherlands, 1-2.

It is the second confrontation between the two teams in the Continental Cup after the first in their first participation in the tournament in 2008, which was also in the group stage (1-1).

Austria will meet the Netherlands, and Poland will meet France in the final round next Tuesday.

Austria had the advantage for most of the match and its attackers created a large number of real chances, converting three of them, and the Italian goalkeeper of Poland and Juventus, Wojciech Szczesny, saved more than one.

It seemed clear that Poland was affected by the absence of its all-time top scorer and veteran Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski (35 years old, 82 goals), who sat on the bench after recovering from a thigh injury he suffered in a friendly match against Turkey (2-1) the Monday before last, which prevented him from playing. The first match against the Netherlands 1-2 last Sunday.

Lewandowski entered after an hour of play without posing any threat to the Austrian goal.

Poland coach Michal Probiers made 4 substitutions in his squad, bringing in Pavel Davidovich, Jakub Petrovski, Bartosz Slich, and Piatek in place of Bartosz Salamon, Katsper Urbanski, Taras Romanchuk, and Sebastian Szymanski.

For his part, the German coach of Austria, Ralf Rangnick, made three changes, with Arnautovic returning to the starting lineup at the expense of Mikael Gregoritsch, and defenders Gernott Trauner and Stefan Bosch replacing Maximilian Woeber, who accidentally scored against his country’s national team, and Kevin Danso, who collided with Mbappé with his shoulder and suffered a broken nose.

Austria pressed hard at the beginning of the match and succeeded in translating it into a goal with a strong header by defender Trauner following a cross pass by Philipp Moeni (9).

Poland waited until the 18th minute to respond with a powerful shot by Italian Roma midfielder Nikola Zalewski from inside the area over the three sticks (18).

Poland achieved the equalizer through Piatek, who took advantage of a rebound from defender Trauner following a shot from close range by Southampton’s English defender Jan Bednarek, so he prepared it for himself and followed it with his right to the left of goalkeeper Patrick Pents (30).

Borussia Dortmund’s German midfielder Marcel Sabitzer tried his luck with a powerful, deceptive shot from outside the area that passed near the right post (42).

Benets saved his goal from a certain goal by blocking a direct free kick that Napoli’s Italian striker, Piotr Zielinski, took with his right from outside the area and sent it to a corner (45+1).

Austria regained control of the proceedings in the second half, and defender Bosch almost added the second goal with a header from close range in Szczesny’s hands (51).

Baumgartner gave Austria the lead again when he took advantage of a creeping cross pass to Alexander Brass, Moeni’s replacement, and set it up for himself inside and followed it creeping with his right to Szczesny’s left (66).

Benets saved his goal from the equalizer by blocking Shwiderski’s shot (69), and Szczesny followed suit by blocking a powerful shot by substitute Patrick Wimmer (75).

Austria won a penalty kick after Sabitzer was successfully obstructed by goalkeeper Szczesny Vanbre Arnautovic (78).

Szczesny continued his brilliance and narrowly deflected a strong shot from Bosch into a corner (83), and Konrad Laimer wasted the fourth opportunity after receiving a ball inside the area, so Szczesny dribbled and shot it near the left post (85).