Netherlands vs France live updates (2024)

Hello and welcome again to our live coverage on this eighth day of Euro 2024 — and specifically, a cracking third match in store this Friday.

It’s Michael Bailey here and two of the big guns as Netherlands take on France in Group D, both off the back of opening wins.

Meanwhile, the two losers from matchday one kick off in about an hour in Berlin — and you can follow Poland vs Austria with us live right here.

Meanwhile, it’s just finished in Dusseldorf with Ukraine beating Slovakia in the day’s opening game. More on that in a moment.

But this is the place for our continuing build-up to a big night in Leipzig.

So don’t go anywhere. We’ve got you covered from here.

Simons was born to play the game. Regillo, his father, was a professional footballer in the top flight in the Netherlands for the best part of a decade and named his youngest son after Xavi Hernandez, the Barcelona legend (Faustino, Xavi’s older brother, who shares the same birthday as him, was named after the Colombia striker Faustino Asprilla).

Raised in Spain, after his family relocated to Alicante when his father’s playing career finished, Simons signed for Barcelona aged seven and was catapulted into the spotlight, appearing in Nike commercials alongside Neymar and Ronaldinho as a kid.

At 21, he has already played in Ligue 1, the Eredivisie and the Bundesliga, left Barcelona, signed for Paris Saint-Germain, and rejoined the French club 12 months later after moving to PSV for a season. Are you keeping up? Most of his opponents aren’t.

Simons has not yet recaptured his club form in a Netherlands shirt. Note the word ‘yet’. Like most things with Simons, it’s when, not if, everything falls into place.

France manager Didier Deschamps was the original water carrier (AKA le porteur d’eau) back when Claude Makelele wasn’t yet a twinkle his mother’s eye.

As a player, Deschamps was the ultimate team player who caused others to thrive and he achieved it all: captaining his country to the World Cup (1998) and Euros (2000), lifted the Champions League with Juventus in 1996.

There was the Champions League and two domestic titles with Marseille, an FA Cup with Chelsea and Serie A three times at Juventus.

After guiding France to another World Cup as their manager in 2018, he basically became immortal.

As a player, Ronald Koeman was a peak mixture of trophies and talent. He won one European Championship, two European Cups (AKA the Champions League) with PSV Eindhoven and Barcelona, four Eredivisie titles (one Ajax, three PSV) and four La Liga wins with Barca.

Koeman was twice voted Dutch footballer of the year at a time when Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard were about. He also got into a couple of Ballon d’Or top 10s.

Then on talent, Koeman scored the winner in the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley, was joint top scorer in the 1993-94 Champions League (while playing at the back) and had an exceptional shooting ability, pinpoint passing range, as well as being a master of reading the game.

And then he scored many free-kicks and penalties. In fact, despite playing much of his career as a defender or sweeper, today’s Netherlands manager scored 239 goals in 685 club appearances.

The wallpaper is dated, patterned with roses, and was taken from a cupboard at a Spanish Airbnb property 12 years ago.

Folded four times, and in recent months buried at the bottom of a house-moving box, it spreads across a dining table when unfurled. Its reverse side is inscribed in spidery writing, half in Dutch, half in English, that takes the reader into the mind of Johan Cruyff and his ideas for the future of Ajax.

It is a document, never seen publicly before, that explains the shape of modern European football as we know it.

Read more in Jacob Whitehead's fascinating feature below...

Jimbo, Adrian Clarke and Benji Lanyado are in the studio after England fail to live up to expectations but Spain definitely don’t.

It’s four points from two games for Gareth Southgate’s side but the performances seem to be getting worse. We try to get to the bottom of things and wonder whether England are the worst coached team at the Euros.

Spain took on Italy. Or was it Man City vs Burnley? La Roja batter the Azzurri 1-0 with Nico Williams providing perhaps the standout performance of the tournament.

Plus, Julien Laurens joins us to look at France’s clash with Netherlands and specifically the state of Kylian Mbappe’s nose.

Listen to today's episode of the Totally Football Show here.

It was one of the biggest question marks for France as they entered this tournament: who will lead their attack?

Olivier Giroud, Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani have all started as the team’s centre-forward since the World Cup, and each brings a different quality.

Giroud’s link-up play has been vital to Deschamps’ team for many years, but Kolo Muani’s off-ball movement and runs in behind provide a different profile. As for Thuram, he offers a handy balance between the two.

Against Austria, Thuram started on the left wing and played the whole match, while Giroud and Kolo Muani came on as substitutes. How will Deschamps manage that balance today? We aren't far away from finding out.

Half-time in the Group E match between Slovakia and Ukraine.

Slovakia currently lead 1-0 thanks to Ivan Schranz's header.

Several saves from Ukraine goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, in the XI after replacing Andriy Lunin, have kept the deficit to one.

Can Ukraine save their Euro 2024 hopes? They only have 45 minutes, plus stoppage time, to do so.

You can follow play-by-play updates with The Athletic's live blog, run by Ed Mackey, here.

As well as this live blog, you can also follow the second of the three Euro 2024 matches today, Poland vs Austria, with our live blog for that game here.

That one kicks off at 6pm local time, 5pm BST for those in the UK, 12pm/noon ET and 9am PT for those in the US.

More often than not, the now-Real Madrid winger Kylian Mbappe occupies a central position rather than attacking the back post when the team is attacking wide areas.

From there, Mbappe constantly offers himself as a cutback option while the centre-forward is dragging the defensive line deeper.

You will find examples of this pattern of play — including one from France’s qualifier against Group D rivals Netherlands — in Ahmed Walid’s piece.

Just follow the link below.

As the Netherlands’ wide forwards combine with their wing-backs in the final third, one feature of this attack is the wing-backs rotating positions with the forwards to be a threat inside the penalty area.

On other occasions, the narrow positioning of the wing-backs creates space for the Dutch forwards in wide areas.

You can see some of the examples of this in Ahmed Walid’s piece, which you can check out in full below.

The first match of the day, Slovakia vs Ukraine, is kicking off right now.

Click here to follow play-by-play updates from that game with Ed Mackey's live blog.

Enjoy!

Obviously, we'll keep going with build-up to Netherlands vs France in this live blog. So stick around.

The Dutch defence was solid in most of their qualifying campaign, managing five clean sheets in six games against Greece, Gibraltar (twice each) and the Republic of Ireland.

But against stronger opposition, their back line has suffered. In their two group matches against France, they conceded six times.

On top of that, they let in four against Croatia and three against Italy in the 2022-23 Nations League finals last June, and two against Germany in March.

The risk-reward of giving Mbappe a free hand.

On one hand, its attacking benefits have been clear in possession and on attacking transitions for years, but France’s narrow 2-1 quarter-final victory against England in the 2022 World Cup illustrated their left side can be exploited when facing strong opposition.

Before that game, Gareth Southgate’s assistant Steve Holland hinted at the idea of attacking France down Mbappe’s side:

💬 “There is always a plus and a minus to everyone. It’s that cat-and-mouse of, ‘Yes, we have still got to try to deal with him’ but we also have to try to exploit the weakness that his super-strength delivers.

“Trying to adapt your team to cover for that while still trying to create your own problems is the challenge.”

Despite losing by the odd goal that day, England’s approach worked and only small details cost them.

If you are a regular viewer of the Premier League, then you are likely familiar with Anthony Taylor.

Born in Wythenshawe, Manchester, he worked his way up to the Premier League after starting out in the Northern Premier League — English football’s seventh tier.

His first game at this summer’s European Championship is one of the group stage’s biggest fixtures, as World Cup runners-up France take on the Netherlands in Leipzig tonight.

Read more below...

France faced a classic potential banana skin first up with Ralf Rangnick's hard-running, dynamic Austria.

And the Austrians proved a tough test, restricting Les Bleus to just three shots on target.

In the end, the only goal of the game - a Max Wober own goal - was fortunate for France, both in how the ball went in, and also in that Austria should have had a corner shortly beforehand.

The referee erroneously gave a goal kick, France went up the other end via Kylian Mbappe and very soon after scored the winner. They will be looking for a more convincing performance and result today.

In their first match of the tournament, the Netherlands actually went 1-0 down after Adam Buksa's early goal.

Cody Gakpo equalised just before the half-hour mark, before the big man - Wout Weghorst - stepped up late on with a sweet first-time finish after coming on as a substitute to give them three points first up.

Same again today would do very nicely.

France haven’t moved away from the approach that guided them to the 2022 World Cup final, where they lost against Argentina on penalties. After shifting to a back four on the eve of that tournament, Deschamps has continued with the shape and Antoine Griezmann playing in a midfield three.

France’s main attacking threat comes from wide areas, where the focus is on finding Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele in one-vs-one situations.

But the wingers also look to combine with advancing full-backs, especially left-sided Theo Hernandez, who regularly occupies a higher position than Kounde at right-back.

To balance Hernandez’s forward surges, Adrien Rabiot maintains a deeper position in midfield alongside Aurelien Tchouameni.

Off the ball, France’s defensive shape moves to a lopsided 4-4-2 with the right winger dropping next to the flattened midfield line. This way, Deschamps frees Mbappe of any defensive responsibilities and keeps him as a threat in transition.

Alternating between a back three and four, Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands continuously change their shape from game to game or within the same match.

Despite that, the differences between the 3-2-4-1 and 4-2-3-1 on the ball are minimal. The Dutch still look to find their No 10s between the lines and combine to create an advantage for their widest players — whether these are wing-backs, a wide forward or an overlapping full-back.

On the other hand, the 4-2-3-1 provides a different profile in the front line; rather than having two wing-backs, it’s an overlapping full-back and a winger. Often, one of the wingers would roam inside the pitch to create space for the advancing full-back.

Out of possession is where the difference between their shapes is most stark, with an additional centre-back making it a back five instead of a back four.

In addition, the Netherlands are able to press higher up the pitch if needed, with their centre-backs accustomed to aggressively marking opponents in advanced positions.

England manager Gareth Southgate and England captain Harry Kane were both critical of the pitch after their 1-1 draw against Denmark in Frankfurt yesterday.

The pitch in Frankfurt was last relaid in November and, after the match, ground staff were filling buckets with loose turf.

And UEFA outlined its plan to address pitch concerns, saying in a statement: “UEFA and its independent pitch consultants have been working closely with the grounds team in Frankfurt in the the build-up of the tournament to guarantee optimal playing conditions and have seen the overall pitch rating improve consistently over the course of the previous season.

“A detailed maintenance plan is in place to address specific issues and further improve quality ahead of the upcoming fixtures at the venue.” Hmm. One to keep an eye on.