France had more chances, Griezmann missed several massive opportunities, the Netherlands scored a goal which was disallowed, and Mbappe didn’t play. That could be the summary of tonight’s derby clash between France and the Netherlands. France gaffer’s decision will cause comments in the following days since Mbappe seemed quite annoyed for not playing. Giroud, Coman, Thuram, Dembele and Griezmann all were not enough and couldn’t replace Kylian’s impact on Les Blues’ performance.After a lot of speculation, Mbappe wasn’t fit enough to take the place in the starting line-up. Even though the French skipper got the necessary mask with which he was supposed to play after breaking his nose against Austria, Didier Deschamps still opted for a more careful approach and left the new Real Madrid player on the bench. His new teammate, Aurélien Tchouaméni, replaced him in the starting 11, taking his place in the midfield, while tonight’s captain, Antoine Griezmann, got a more offensive role.The Netherlands boss, Ronald Koeman, decided to replace PSV’s Joey Veerman with Bayer Leverkusen’s winger Jeremie Frimpong, which meant that Xavi Simons had to move to the midfield, contrary to the Poland game, when he was part of the offensive trio. The Oranje’s saviour, Wout Weghorts, once more started the game on the bench.EURO 2024: Like fathers like sonsWe didn’t have to wait much for the first goal-scoring opportunity. Frimpong got the ball into space in the second minute, being faster than Theo Hernandez, but Mike Maignan managed to deflect the ball into a corner. France answered just two minutes later when Griezmann fired an effort from around 20 meters, but Bart Verbruggen tipped the ball over the bar excellently. The same player had two colossal chances in the 14th minute. The first one left the audience wondering how on Earth he missed that… Adrien Rabiot did the entire job, passed to Griezmann who somehow managed to miss the ball instead of placing it into the empty net from close range. The action continued when N’Golo Kante crossed the ball again to Griezmann, but the Atletico Madrid player’s shot went wide.HOW HAS GRIEZMANN MISSED THAT?! pic.twitter.com/IudLw5xz2H— Frank🧠🇳🇱 (fan) (@TenHagEra) June 21, 2024 The festival of chances continued two minutes later. Cody Gakpo aimed for the bottom left corner, but Maignan helped it around the post with a low stop. In the 29th minute, Marcus Thuram scampered through the rival’s offside trap, but then impatiently sent the ball far wide. Afterward, the rhythm of the game slowed down and, although France had several chances, especially Griezmann’s massive one, the teams were level at the break. The second half started in a much more careful manner, and neither manager made a substitution. A quarter of an hour into the second half, we saw the first somewhat dangerous shot. Thuram dragged it from the edge of the box, but it went wide. Three minutes later, Tchouameni headed the ball after a corner just over the crossbar. Two minutes later, Griezmann missed again. Thuram found Kante, who crossed the ball to Antoine at the far post. Although alone, the 33-year-old scuffed the finish, and Verbruggen saved it.HOW DID GRIEZMANN MISS THIS?? pic.twitter.com/TDNTCM2Xfe— The 44 ⚽️ (@The_Forty_Four) June 21, 2024 The punishment could have come just four minutes later. Simons got the ball in the box after Maignan’s deflection and found the back of the net, but the goal was disallowed since Denzel Dumfries affected the play, distracting the French goalkeeper. And when the entire audience probably expected Mbappe to enter the field, Deschamps sent Olivier Giroud and Kingsley Coman in for Ousmane Dembele and Marcus Thuram. Koeman also reacted and sent in his golden sub, Wout Weghorst, for the indisposed Memphis Depay.Kylian Mbappé was getting frustrated on the bench 👀 pic.twitter.com/KRHZxYgzNt— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) June 21, 2024 In the ultimate ten minutes, both teams seemed more interested in keeping the draw than trying to score a winner. France controlled the ball and circled around Oranje’s box, but their effort was in vain. Deschamps’ decision to keep Mbappe on the bench will raise dust since Les Blues would certainly look much better with him in the team. This draw and Austria’s triumph over Poland, complicated the situation in this group. It’s clear that the Poles travel home after the next-round game, but the top three teams’ final positions will be determined in the last round.EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP – GROUP STAGEWednesdayCroatia – Albania 2-2 (0-1)/Kramaric 74, Gjasula 76 og – Laci 11, Gjasula 90+4/Germany – Hungary 2-0 (1-0)/Musiala 22, Gundogan 67/Scotland – Switzerland 1-1 (1-1)/McTominay 13 – Shaqiri 26/ThursdaySlovenia – Serbia 1-1 (0-0)/Karnicnik 69 – Jovic 90+5/Denmark – England 1-1 (1-1)/Hjulmand 34 – Kane 18/Spain – Italy 1-0 (0-0)/Calafiori 55 og/FridaySlovakia – Ukraine 1-2 (1-0)/Schranz 17 – Shaparenko 54, Yaremchuk 80/Poland – Austria 1-3 (1-1)/Piatek 30 – Trauner 9, Baumgartner 66, Arnautovic 78 pen/Netherlands – France 0-0Saturday16.00: (4.40) Georgia (3.50) Czech R. (1.85)19.00: (5.70) Turkey (3.80) Portugal (1.63)22.00: (1.50) Belgium (4.20) Romania (6.75)***odds are subject to change***
