AGI – Draw with two faces between Holland and Francewhich do not go beyond 0-0 – the first since the beginning of Euro2024 – in a match full of scoring opportunities. A point that makes both teams smile, as they continue their journey arm in arm towards the round of 16, with the blues who will face Poland in the last matchwhile Koeman’s men will face Austria.
In Leipzig the “big absentee” is Mbappè: on the bench for the entire match due to the broken nose suffered on his debut, against Austria. High pace from the first minutes, with the Netherlands immediately dangerous thanks to Frimpong’s escape and his right-footed shot saved by Maignan; while France responds with a long-range shot from Griezmann which is blocked for a corner by Verbruggen. Deschamps’ team revs up again and in the 14th minute they will come very close to taking the lead, thanks to the invention of Thuram who with a back heel finds everything alone in the Rabiot area, with the Juventus player who doesn’t kick from close range but attempts a pass to Griezamann, closed by the Orange defense.
It was Holland who showed up again a little later, with Gakpo coming in from the left and shooting around, while Maignan was still reactive. At the end of the first half the pace of the match seemed to drop, as did at the start of the second half, with both teams studying.
France will have the first clear chance of the second half, with yet another finesse from Thuram favoring Kantè’s suggestion in the area for Griezmann, who was not very precise from close range in controlling the ball and kicking it. The Netherlands therefore remained in the game and in the 69th minute they would find the 1-0 goal thanks to Simons’ long-range shot, but everything was then nullified by the irregular position of Dumfries, guilty of obstructing Maignan in the intervention.
The score remains at 0-0 and Deschamps tries to change something in his eleven, inserting Giroud and Coman but not captain Mbappe. In the end the match remained blocked, with an increasingly cautious attitude on the part of the two teams as it approached the final whistle, which arrived without any implications after the five minutes of injury time granted by referee Taylor.
