PARIS, March 25: France won their first game since their World Cup final defeat in style, beating the Netherlands 4-0 at the Stade de France to kick off their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with a bang.
Antoine Griezmann put France ahead early after he was teed up by the man chosen over him for the captaincy, Kylian Mbappe, before Dayot Upamecano doubled their advantage inside eight minutes after Jasper Cillessen made a mess of a free-kick.
Mbappe made it three before the halfway point of the first-half, before striking a fabulous second late on as Didier Deschamps’ men strolled to an opening win in Group B.
The Dutch had lost several players in the build-up to the game with a virus, but will have been made even sicker by the start to their qualifying campaign and Ronald Koeman’s second spell as head coach, with Memphis Depay seeing a late penalty saved to add insult to injury. After all the noise about the France captaincy, it was somewhat appropriate that Mbappe fed the ball inside to Griezmann to side-foot low and hard to Cillessen’s right to give the hosts a second-minute lead.
It was 2-0 soon after as Cillessen failed to deal with Griezmann’s free-kick from the right, with the ball ricocheting off Upamecano and rolling through the Dutch goalkeeper’s legs into the net.
Mbappe had his first goal as captain in the 21st minute when he played the ball to Aurelien Tchouameni on the halfway line, before racing towards to the left-side of the penalty area to get onto the Real Madrid midfielder’s return pass — dummied by Randal Kolo Muani — before finishing calmly.
Koeman took action by introducing Manchester United loanee Wout Weghorst for Kenneth Taylor after just 33 minutes, and the Netherlands were at least able to avoid further damage despite never really testing Mike Maignan in the French goal.
That was until Depay’s sloppy pass backwards found Mbappe, who teased Jurrien Timber and Daley Blind before firing across Cillessen to make it 4-0 in the 88th minute, while Depay saw his stoppage-time penalty saved by Maignan to wrap up a miserable game for the Dutch.
Lukaku hat trick
Romelu Lukaku underlined his enduring value to Belgium by scoring all three goals in a 3-0 win at Sweden in the other notable victory on Friday.
It was a successful start to Domenico Tedesco’s tenure as coach of Belgium, which is also playing under a new captain in Kevin De Bruyne.Tedesco will know the importance of having Lukaku healthy if the Red Devils are to finally win an international trophy.
The striker wasn’t fully fit at the World Cup and that was a big reason why Belgium went out in the group stage. Lukaku has been playing regularly for Inter Milan since then and was a constant threat against Sweden as he scored in the 35th, 49th and 83rd minutes, with two set up by winger Dodi Lukebakio.
“A really good result,” Tedesco said. “I felt a good spirit not only on the pitch but also on the bench. The spirit of being united.” Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sweden’s 41-year-old striker, came off the bench for his first national team appearance in nearly a year and had a couple of chances to score.
Loss for Poland
Euro 2024 could be the last major international tournament for 34-year-old Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski, though Poland’s bid to make it to Germany got off to a sticky start.
Poland lost 3-1 at the Czech Republic, which went ahead when Ladislav Krejcí scored after 27 seconds – the earliest goal netted by the national team in its history.
Tomas Cvancara and Jan Kuchta also were on target for the Czechs as Lewandowski was kept scoreless in the Group E game.
Austria beat Azerbaijan 4-1 in the group containing Belgium and Sweden. On-loan Manchester United midfielder Marcel Sabitzer scored twice.
Meanwhile, Greece won at Gibraltar 3-0 in France’s group.
There were wins for Serbia (2-0 at home to Lithuania) and Montenegro (1-0 at Bulgaria) in Group G. (PTI)