France v Netherlands, Sweden v Belgium: Euro 2024 Qualifiers – live | Euro 2024 qualifying
Key events
Sweden 0-0 Bulgaria Wout Faes has just produced a superb goal clearance to thwart Dejan Kulusevski, whose shot squirmed under Thibaut Courtois and was This about to cross the line when Faes forced him away.
AIM! Gibraltar 0-1 Greece (Masouras 11) Another goal in Group B (France, Netherlands, Ireland): Giorgos Masouras put Greece ahead in a game that, even at this early stage, is probably up for grabs.
France 2-0 Netherlands France leaves the ball to the Netherlands in harmless areas; that probably would have been their 0-0 approach, let alone 2-0.
“Here in the United States!” (etc), we are entitled to Sweden against Belgium,” says Joe Pearson. “Why? Belgium are the most overrated and least productive golden generation ever. How they maintained their high Fifa ranking is a complete mystery to me. At least I can see Kulusevski and Isak playing together for the Swedes (not the rutabagas, people).
The latest scores
Group B
France 2-0 Netherlands
Gibraltar 0-0 Greece
Group E
Group F
Austria 0-0 Azerbaijan
Sweden 0-0 Belgium
Group G
Do not waste time ! 👏🇨🇿
The Czech Republic are already two goals ahead of Poland 🔥
Tomáš Čvančara scored the second with a nice finish with the outside of his boot ✌️#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/c1BCSJ8Dcw
— Viaplay Sports UK (@ViaplaySportsUK) March 24, 2023
AIM! France 2-0 Netherlands (Upamecano 8)
And then there were two. Griezmann’s wicked free-kick hits the partially blind Cillessen, who probably should have done better, and Upamecano kicks the loose ball into the net from a few yards out.
GOALS! Czech Republic 2-0 Poland (Krejci 1, Cvancara 3)
While I was excited about Griezmann’s goal/hair, the Czech Republic were getting their qualifying campaign on a rare old flyer.
Mbappe and Griezmann both wanted the captaincy, but it seems their relationship on the pitch is perfect. Mbappe, on the left of the area, slid an unselfish square ball towards the pressed Griezmann, who curled a majestic first time past Jasper Cillessen.
Oh, and Griezmann has pink hair. I don’t know if this is news.
AIM! France 1-0 Netherlands (Griezmann 2)
Have some of that!
Peeppeep! All seven matches are in progress. At least I guess they are; I only see what is happening in Paris.
France are wearing their white change strip due to a clash between their blue home kit and their business imperatives.
Ballon d’Or quiz, hotshot
If you want something to pass the time before kick-off, see how many 1998 Ballon d’Or nominees you can name in 10 minutes. If you get them all, without cheating, let me know.
‘Fast wingers as captains’ begins Charles Antaki. “Theo Walcott was of course much loved at Arsenal, but the love did not last until he was made captain for a routine league game on his tenth year anniversary. at the club in 2016. Opinions differ as to who made this decision, but you would have thought Wenger wouldn’t have been so sentimental – there was a rumor that the senior players decided on it at the last moment and pushed the armband on his arm in the tunnel. It was against Chelsea, I think – they lost anyway.
I had totally forgotten that. Mind you, when Andrew questioned Mbappe’s fitness as captain, I don’t think the issue was Mbappe’s style of play.
Sign up for Football Daily!
It’s free, it’s free and it’s free.
Some pre-game reads
I was surprised that this phrase didn’t take off, at least in England, before the year 2000. I thought it was used semi-regularly during Euro 96, but I think I must have confused gold with sex.
It’s 26 years to the day since Portugal faced the Czech Republic at Euro 96, and Ruud Gullit introduced us to the term ‘Sexy Football’.
Great answer from Des Lynam here too.
Softness all around.pic.twitter.com/mic61VCvHD
— Stu’s Football Flashbacks (@stusfootyflash) June 23, 2022
France v Netherlands
“You might want to point out that part of the ‘innovation’ of the Dutch team is due to the appearance of some kind of viral disease (not COVID-19) in the team”, writes Willem van Schaik, “who drove Cody Gakpo, Matthijs de Ligt, Sven Botman, Joey Veerman and Bart Verbruggen are sent home.
I thought they were a bit young to have retired from international football.
“Sweden Evening, Rob”, writes Julian Menz. “Having lived here for almost 20 years and followed Zlatan’s career in the ‘Landslaget’, I can say that most Swedish fans aren’t too bothered by his ‘internal monologue’.
“He was/is still a great player, but he never really integrated into the national team. (Sending the ball to Zlatan is at odds with how the collective is supposed to work.) I’m puzzled as to the reason he was called back, when it’s pretty clear to all concerned that this is an ego massage from his point of view.
“I hope he stays on the bench, watching Isak and Kulusevski go wild.”
There were some surprising selections this week. I thought, for example, that Roberto Martinez would fix the Cristiano Ronaldo problem now rather than reject him. Obviously, I’m not a golfer.
“Where is Mbappé in terms of the least suitable captains in football history? writes Andrew Hurley.
Now there is a question. Sometimes people surprise you when they become captain, like Nasser Hussain when he took over the England cricket team in 1999. But yeah, Mbappe doesn’t exactly fit the profile of a typical captain. I guess when you’re as good – and as inspiring – as him, you can create your own captain profile.
yesterday’s men
How Euro 2024 qualifying works
Hosts Germany qualify automatically
The top two teams from each of the 10 groups will join them
Twelve teams will battle it out in the playoffs for the final three spots
Full-time: Bulgaria 0-1 Montenegro
A big victory for Montenegro, whose players jump in delirium in the central circle. In a tight group that includes Serbia and Hungary, they got off to a perfect start.
Nikola Krstovic scored the only goal, his first for his country, and Stefan Savic produced a brilliant clearance on the goal line in the last minute of regulation time.
News from the Sweden-Belgium team
Zlatan Ibrahimovic starts on the bench, and we can all imagine what his internal monologue makes of it.
🇸🇪 Här är herrlandslagets startelva i kvällens EM-kvalpremiär mot Belgien! 💯
⏰ Avspark i matchen 20.45 på Friends Arena, TV6 and Viaplay 💥
— Svensk Fotboll (@svenskfotboll) March 24, 2023
S
France-Netherlands team news
Both teams are starting from scratch after good but ultimately unsatisfying World Cup campaigns that ended in a penalty shootout loss to Argentina.
There are a few new faces on both sides. The withdrawals from international football of Hugo Lloris and Raphael Varane mean an opportunity for Mike Maignan and Ibrahima Konaté, while Randal Kolo Muani is preferred to Olivier Giroud in attack.
This is the first game of Ronald Koeman’s second term as Netherlands manager, and it looks like he’s returned to the classic Dutch 4-3-3. New faces include Xavi Simons (19), Kenneth Taylor (20) and Lutsharel Geertruida (22), a very promising trio who have four caps between them.
AIM! Bulgaria 0-1 Montenegro (Krstovic 70) Nikola Krstovic has just given Montenegro the lead in Razgrad, sweeping home with joy after some selfless play from Stevan Jovetic.
Preamble
The first kilometer of a marathon doesn’t usually attract attention, but the Euro 2024 computer wants to change all that. The qualifying campaign started last night with Italy against England, a repeat of the final in 2021, and there’s another heavyweight clash tonight: Gibraltar will be hoping to get one against Greece, who have been UEFA’s second-best G-team for far too long. things are gonna change i can feel it France against the Netherlands.
It’s tempting to assume that these two will qualify anyway, and that tonight’s game doesn’t really smell of danger. But a) Evan Ferguson might have other ideas and b) the Netherlands know full well that, even in an era of Infantino-sized tournaments, qualification is not a given.
We will mainly focus on the events in Paris, where 24-year-old Kylian Mbappe will captain France for the first time. Sweden-Belgium is also intriguing, and not just because Zlatan Ibrahimovic, back in the Sweden team at the age of 41, is four years older than the new Belgian coach Dominico Tedesco. Whether Ibrahimovic plays tonight, he will become the oldest man to have played in a European Championship match.
If Zlatan is willing, we’ll keep an eye on all of tonight’s matches. Here they are, kicking off at 19:45 GMT, unless otherwise stated:
Group B
France v Netherlands
Gibraltar v Greece
Also in this group: Republic of Ireland
Group E
Czech Republic vs Poland
Moldova v Faroe Islands
Also in this group: Albania
Group F
Austria vs Azerbaijan
Sweden v Belgium
Also in this group: Estonia
Group G
Also in this group: Hungary
Fr
