Before appearing in front of the press for the traditional pre-match press conference, Sunday June 16, Didier Deschamps had his eyes fixed on Hamburg. The French football team will only enter Euro 2024 on Monday, against Austria in Düsseldorf. But his campaign was officially launched 400 kilometers away, while the large port city in northern Germany hosted the first poster of Group D, between the Netherlands and Poland.
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At the final whistle, not sure that the French coach is fully reassured. The Oranje, announced as their main competitors in the group stage, certainly struggled for a long time against the Bialo-Czerwoni (“the White and Red”), but they ended up winning (2-1). Virgil van Dijk and his teammates have above all shown that they are capable of dominating the debates and that, if they manage to resolve their lack of efficiency in front of goal, they could prove to be formidable. Worse, the Blues will also have to be wary of their opponents of the day, determined to thwart the predictions.
“Everyone says we’re going to lose, that we don’t have a chance [dans ce groupe et cet Euro]. But we have created a team, each member of which is ready to fight for each other”recalled, before the match, the Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski, who had recovered the captain’s armband in the absence of Robert Lewandowski – injured and forced to watch the match from the sidelines.
Cody Gakpo very leggy
In the Volksparkstadion almost entirely committed to the cause of their rivals, deprived of their best player and despite a squad weakened by injuries, the Bialo-Czerwoni were able to resist the multiple offensive assaults of the Dutch, battling on each ball. They even had the luxury of leading the score, against the run of play, in the 16the minute, thanks to a header from Adam Buksa, who came to replace the FC Barcelona striker.
After multiple vain attempts on the Batavian side, striker Cody Gakpo, very leggy and named man of the match, ended up finding the net to put his team back on level terms with a powerful strike, sufficiently deflected by Bartosz Salamon to surprise Wojciech Szczesny (29e).
Read also | Euro 2024: the Netherlands achieve their first success, after a great battle against Poland
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Despite their domination and a slew of chances, Ronald Koeman’s men had to wait until the very end of the match to make the difference, thanks to luxury substitute Wout Weghorst, scorer with a half-volley on his first ball (83e). “We should have led 4-1 at the end of the first period, but it’s our fault, we have to be more efficient”recognized the Dutch coach, happy to have been able to take advantage of the depth of his bench, “the varied profiles of the players to [sa] provision to correct the situation during the match ».
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