When a coach is serious, when he knows what‘s he doing, when the players are following his instructions and play with discipline, even the mighty France is struggling. All this was done by Ralf Rangnick and unlike in Manchester United, he created a strong Austria team who managed to contain stars like Kylian Mbappe, Marcus Thuram, Olivier Giroud, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann. Unfortunately for the Austrians, their own defensive blunder prevented them from taking at least a point against one of the favorites to win the EURO 2024: Austria – France 0-1. It was a game of Maximilian Wöber‘s own goal, two great chances apiece and two stunning Mbappe‘s misses. It was a game of blood (literally) and hard tackles, a lot of running, a lot of sweat but few beautiful moments. Undoubtedly the weakest game of the tournament in terms of quality, and just like the England – Serbia match, a game with only one scored goal. So far, the tournament was full of goals and chances so this was the first game since the start of EURO in which there was no goals after the first 30 minutes. Austria played smart and bravely, and wasn‘t rewarded with at least a point, while France didn‘t shine. Coach Didier Deschamps finally decided to give William Saliba a starting spot and Ibrahima Konate was left on the bench. Marcus Thuram got the nod over Olivier Giroud, while N’Golo Kante and Adrien Rabiot were preferred in midfielder over Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni. France‘s best player managed a superb chance already in the eight minute of the match. Rabiot made an assist to Mbappe, who took a shot near the right post, but goalkeeper Pentz guessed the side and palmed his shot into the side netting. Then it was time for Austria‘s major chance. In the 36th minute, Saliba missed the header, which allowed Sabitzer to tap onto Baumgartner who only needed to put the ball over Maignan, but the French keeper managed to save it in time. Certainly the best chance the Austrians had in whole 90 minutes. Just two minutes after, we saw a great defensive blunder which allowed the French to win this game. Mbappe surged down the right side and crossed the ball into the goal area, where Leeds‘ Maximilian Wöber made a terrible header and scored an own goal. 19 – Most tackles at the #EURO2024 so far:🇦🇹 Austria (45 minutes) – 19🇺🇦 Ukraine – 17🇭🇺Hungary – 16Committed. #AUTFRA pic.twitter.com/d4HjKKU5VC— OptaJean (@OptaJean) June 17, 2024 The biggest miss of the game happened in the 55th minute when Mbappe raced unchallenged and was one-on-one with Pentz, but missed the whole goal. Austria didn‘t gave up, and 25 minutes before the end, the ball possession was 50-50, despite the obvious stronger French midfield. But, in the end, the Austrian team didn‘t manage to seriously challenge Maignan like they did once in the first half. A tough loss for Ralf Rangnick. EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP – GROUP STAGEMondayRomania – Ukraine 3-0 (1-0)/Stanciu 29, Marin 53, Dragus 57/Belgium – Slovakia 1-0 (1-0)/Schranz 7/Austria – France 0-1 (0-1)/Wober 38(og)/Tuesday19.00: (1.85) Turkey (3.50) Georgia (4.40)22.00: (1.55) Portugal (4.00) Czech R. (6.25)
