Netherlands’ defense dismantled by Mbappe and Griezmann while Lukaku scores hat-trick to mark Tedesco debut

Overview of Friday’s Euro 2024 qualifying matches.

The Nightmare Return of Cuman

Group B
France — Netherlands

The second day of the qualifying tournament again presented the game with the prefix “top”. The silver medalist of the 2022 World Cup against the quarter-finalist is already cool. In addition, it was worth coming to the Stade de France to see off Lloris, Mandanda, Varane and Matuidi, who completed their careers in the national team. And then each team presented cool stories before the match.

In the case of France, this is the appointment to the post of captain Mbappe. This decision of Didier Deschamps initially caused a heated discussion in the country, and the reaction of a disappointed Griezmann made it fiery. They said that he even thought about leaving the national team, and Mbappe, who spoke with his teammate, tried to smooth this situation. Kilian admitted that he would have taken the incident in a similar way, and called Griezmann, who received the position of vice-captain, the most important player of the Deschamps era. “I’m not his boss,” Mbappé admitted.

The game had barely begun, and the new captain gave an assist to his deputy. At the same time, the French attack was born from a steep tackle by Griezmann, who, by the way, did not calm down on this and organized the second goal with a free-kick. Upamecano literally brought the ball into the goal, taking advantage of Silessen’s mistake.

As for the Dutch, Ronald Koeman seems to have returned to that period at Barcelona, ​​when he was doomed to be fired by not signing Messi and selling several other important players. Here, the “oranges” were struck by a virus, due to which five players left the team’s location, including Gakpo and de Ligt. Yes, and the collection began with the news that injuries left Frenkie de Jong and Kopmeiners out of the game.

However, the Netherlands squad looked competitive. The only thing is that the guests could not bring their attacks to mind, and Koeman replaced Taylor, who had failed in the center of the field, with Weghorst already in the middle of the first half. Only torn where thin. It’s about the defense in which Gertraida made his debut. Last weekend, this lateral scored the winning goal against Ajax and strengthened Feyenoord’s lead, and in Saint-Denis he had to play in the center of defense.

And there everything broke down again when Kolo Muani, who did not touch the ball, faked a pass, which led to Mbappe going one on one. 3-0 in the 21st minute in a game of rivals comparable in class is an abnormal result. Including from the point of view of statistics. The Netherlands hasn’t started the game so badly in over a century. To be quite precise, since the meeting against Sweden in August 1919! And the “tricolors” have not attacked so effectively since 1953, and then only Luxembourg was in rivals.

In fact, it turned the second half into a formality. It was not boring, but there was no intrigue. Although Mbappe’s second goal was beautiful and special. With 38 accurate shots, the captain passed Benzema, whose return to the national team is not worth waiting for. Well, Blind, who came on as a substitute, did not imagine his 100th match for the Dutch team exactly like that. Even Depay did not score a 11-meter kick in the fifth added minute! With the threat of penalty-takers by Meignan at the gate, France can be calm.

Gibraltar – Greece

March 27. Ireland – France, Netherlands – Gibraltar.

Rangnick also won

Group F
Sweden – Belgium

Domenico Tedesco began work in Belgium, entrusting the captaincy to De Bruyne. Azar, who said goodbye to the national team, is no longer in the Red Devils, but there are not so many new names. Onana, Teate and Lukebakio, who plays brilliantly under Sandro Schwartz at Hertha, have already been called up before. And Fas, who took the ball off the ribbon after Kuluszewski’s aggravation, was in the application for the 2022 World Cup.

Ahead, the old guard was the soloist. Ferreira-Carrasco almost scored in the first attack, and Lukaku opened the score with a slight nod of his head. He also distinguished himself at the beginning of the second half, and Lukebakio again acted as an assistant. The benefit performance of Lukaku, who scored a hat-trick, was crowned with a chic Bakayoko pass.

Romelu Lukaku.

Photo AFP

The 19-year-old PSV striker is one of those first called up by Tedesco. This is the perfect link between generations. And something that, for example, Sweden did not have, despite the release of the 41-year-old Ibrahimovic from the bench. Lukaku, who had not scored for the national team for a year and a half, eclipsed Zalatan and everyone else. Now with 71 goals for the national team, he is in the top five European scorers of all time, ahead of Germany’s Miroslav Klose.

Another curious fact concerns the former Spartak coach. At 37, Tedesco never became the Belgian champion. After World War II, the Devils were coached by 35-year-old Englishman Bill Gormley.

Austria – Azerbaijan

In another match of this group, the victory also went to the specialist, who was noted in the RPL. Austria, led by Ralf Rangnick, confidently dealt with Azerbaijan, first squandering a few chances, and then scoring twice in two minutes. As a real captain, Zabitzer played that evening, who scored a double. The midfielder of Manchester United also scored a successful corner, and the guests also scored a prestige goal on the account of the captain, the former player of Saturn and Spartak Makhmudov.

March 27th. Austria – Estonia, Sweden – Azerbaijan.

Failure of Santos

Group E
Czech Republic – Poland

The debut of Fernando Santos as head coach of the Polish national team turned out to be shocking. His team in Prague had already conceded two goals by the beginning of the third minute, and the first goal was humiliating. Firstly, Tsoufal’s throw-in was transformed into an assist. Secondly, Kreyci hit the target in the 28th second of the match! Well, the third goal was organized by two former players of Russian clubs – Kral, who cut the pass to the goal area and Kukhta, who hit the touch.

Moldova – Faroe Islands

March 27th. Moldova – Czech Republic, Poland – Albania.

Group G
Serbia – Lithuania

Serbia is distinguished by the ability to come up with problems out of the blue. It almost happened to Lithuania when the hosts failed in defense with the score 1:0. Vanya Milinkovich-Savic saved from a local catastrophe by stopping Jankauskas one-on-one. And then Tadic stopped playing with fire, adding an assist to Vlahovic to the goal. This goal made Serbia the leader of the group.

Bulgaria — Montenegro

March 27th. Hungary – Bulgaria, Montenegro – Serbia