By Matthew Placzek
Special to FOX Sports
SAINT-DENIS, France — France cruised to a 4-0 win over the Netherlands in entrance of greater than 75,000 joyous followers on the Stade de France on Friday.
Here are three ideas on the Euro 2024 qualifying motion from Paris:
Kylian Mbappé is worthy of the armband
There are not any phrases that may describe the genius that oozes out of the PSG winger’s boots.
Didier Deschamps appointed Mbappé as captain at simply 24 years of age and requested him to be “a unifier” between the France of yesterday and the France of tomorrow. He wanted somebody to fill the large sneakers of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who held the place for 14 years, and lead Les Bleus to the highest of the world as soon as extra.
Mbappé is effectively on his strategy to do greater than that — he can turn out to be the very best participant in the world.
His first aim as a French worldwide got here towards the Netherlands on the Stade de France nearly six years in the past, and he continued his dominance over the Dutch in a man-of-the-match efficiency Friday evening. In the twenty first minute, Aurélien Tchouameni slotted a perfectly-weighted by ball to Randal Kolo Muani. Instead of taking it himself, the Eintracht Frankfurt frontman executed a picturesque dummy to set Mbappé up for his first aim.
In the 88th minute, Mbappé collected the ball on the left wing and darted throughout the pitch towards aim. A faux shot despatched Daley Blind hopelessly sliding 5 yards the unsuitable manner and created the half yard of house Mbappé wanted to slip his second aim previous Cillessen.
Every Dutch defender tried and did not cease Mbappé from making his mark on this recreation. And these aren’t common defenders, both. Virgil Van Dijk performs for Liverpool and Nathan Aké fits up for Manchester City. If Mbappé could make gamers of that high quality look ineffective, who is aware of what he’ll do to the less-experienced backlines of the opposite three groups (Republic of Ireland, Gibraltar and Greece) in this group.
France is just getting deeper
Despite making 4 adjustments to their ultimate squad of the World Cup, there was no drop-off in the standard of Didier Deschamps’s males.
Mike Maignan was rock-solid in aim and got here up with a large double-save to disclaim Memphis Depay a comfort aim on the finish of stoppage time. Ibrahima Konaté accomplished 44 of his 50 passes and infrequently put a foot unsuitable alongside Dayot Upamecano. Randal Kolo Muani ought to have had a aim (or two) and was relentless in his quest for pictures. Even Kingsley Coman, the popular substitute for the injured Ousmane Dembélé, supplied alternatives for link-up play when he drifted inside to isolate the Dutch outside-backs.
Olivier Giroud has scored extra objectives than anybody in France’s historical past and needed to come off the bench. Eduardo Camavinga (a middle midfielder at coronary heart) was named as a left-back for this worldwide break as a result of there are six different gamers that fall forward of him in Deschamps’s pecking order. Benjamin Pavard has 47 caps in his profession, begins for Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich and could not even get into this recreation.
Center-back Benoît Badiashile begins for Chelsea however has to play with France’s U-21 crew as a result of he too faces an abundance of depth at his place.. Don’t overlook that Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante and Lucas Hernández are nonetheless recovering from their very own pre-World Cup accidents. Wesley Fofana and William Saliba needed to depart this camp with their very own knocks too.
If everyone seems to be wholesome, this France squad has a critical declare to the title of greatest in historical past.
Injuries damage the Netherlands
In his first stint as head coach of the Netherlands, Koeman by no means misplaced by greater than a aim.
His Oranje aspect conceded three inside 21 minutes tonight and ended on the unsuitable aspect of a four-nil thrashing.
In the Dutch gaffer’s protection, he was lacking a superb chunk of his proficient core. Andries Noppert, Frenkie de Jong and Teun Koopmeiners had been out with accidents. Cody Gakpo was one among 5 gamers that succumbed to a abdomen virus and needed to depart the Dutch camp early. Denzel Dumfries was suspended after receiving a pink card in the aftermath of the penalty shootout loss to Argentina in the World Cup quarterfinals.
Koeman’s alternative of replacements did not precisely meet the second. Jasper Cillessen christened his return to the nationwide crew by butchering a easy cross to reward Dayot Upamecano his second-ever worldwide aim. Despite his game-winning header towards Ajax in De Klassieker over the weekend, Feyenoord’s Lutsharel Geertruida was a deer in headlights and was unable to cease a single French participant from getting in behind the Dutch backline. Xavi Simons got here nowhere near threatening the opposition like Gakpo and regarded uncomfortable till switching into the midfield as a ten.
Kenneth Taylor had probably the most forgettable efficiency of the lot. The 20-year-old Ajax midfielder gave the ball away twice in the first two minutes and was straight at fault for France’s opening aim. His lack of ability to seek out open house and supply a optimistic passing lane to both of his center-backs prevented the Netherlands from doing something greater than aimlessly switching the play back and forth. When he did get on the ball, he both gave it away with an errant go or was dispossessed in the center of the pitch.
Koeman’s substitutions had been a lone shiny spot and injected a much-needed spark right into a sputtering Dutch engine. Daley Blind earned his one centesimal cap for the Netherlands and regarded rather more assured in his go choice than his compatriots. Borussia Dortmund’s Donyell Malen was notably adept at discovering the house that Theo Hernández left vacant on the proper flank, however he wasn’t given almost sufficient time to make the AC Milan defender pay for it.
The Netherlands have a protracted strategy to go earlier than they run out of choices, however there must be a large overhaul from Koeman if they need a consequence after they host Gibraltar in Rotterdam on Monday.
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