France 1-1 Poland
France had to settle for second place in Group D after drawing 1-1 with Poland in Dortmund on Tuesday night, while Austria beat the Netherlands to go top.
After a goalless first half Kylian Mbappe broke the deadlock from the penalty spot but before France could grab a second Robert Lewandowski equalised with a twice taken penalty.
With Euro 2024 hosts Germany already through as group toppers and Spain winning three out of three, France were under the spotlight with the latest Euro 2024 betting odds making it a wide open competition. But against a Poland team already out…Les Blues were hardly convincing.
Highlights of the game
The big pre-match news was that France skipper Mbappe was making a start, after missing the Netherlands draw having broken his nose against Austria. Poland talisman Lewandowski also made a start and he insisted, in a pre-match interview that his team would certainly not roll over. And he was as good as his word as the Poles shared the action in an entertaining first half.
Napoli ace Piotr Zielinski was the first to take a shot, a well timed effort low to Mike Maignan’s right which the keeper saved well. At the other end of the pitch Lukasz Skorupski made a good save on his debut, with his foot at the near post, when Theo Hernandez fired his shot in. In an end to end start Maignan saved well from Kacper Ubanski and then Skorupski made a brilliant stop to deny Ousmane Dembele. With ten minutes to go until the break Lewandowski had the best chance of the game so far when he met a cross from Zielinski but his header took a nick off William Saliba and glanced just wide of the post.
Then it was France’s main man, Mbappe, who was so close with a goal-bound flick but Skorupski got a crucial hand to it to take the teams into the break at 0-0.
France started the second half with some venom and the Poland keeper was in action to save an Mbappe curler. Ousmane Dembele fizzed a ball across the goal-line and then Mbappe again went close with a skimming 20 yard effort. Eventually the pressure told when Dembele raced into the penalty area and Jakub Kiwior made a schoolboy error, diving in to give away a penalty.
Mbappe stepped up and made it look easy as he sent Skorupski the wrong way with his first goal of the tournament.
France had been patient and now, with a goal in the bank, they were ready to push on; and Dembele on the right and Hernandez on the left continued to stretch the Poles to the limit. But Lewandowski is always a threat and he robbed Aurelien Tchouameni and then flashed a shot wide. Then, with 75 minutes on the clock, Poland had a loud penalty shout when Karol Swiderski was felled by Dayot Upamecano and the ref waved play-on. But VAR intervened and the spot-kick was awarded.
Up stepped Lewandowski with a chance to level and Maignan made a great save, But the France keeper was adjudged to have encroached; and with his second effort Lewi scored with pinpoint accuracy, in off the post.
Les Bleus threw everything at it as Olivier Giroud had a shot deflected away and Antoine Griezmann almost snuck in to win it and, in the last action of the game, Mbappe had a shot deflected into the arms of man-of-the-match Skorupski.
Key statistics
Poland had the dubious honour of being the first nation to be eliminated after two bad Euro 2024 results and two underwhelming performances, but they had a real go in a first half with goalmouth action at both ends of the pitch. France had the edge with eight shots to six and four to two on target while there was one big chance at either end.
Les Bleus dominated the second half and ended up with 19 shots to ten; but they failed to make it count against the battling underdogs.
Poland have never lost all three group games at a major tournament and have scored in their last nine games at the Euros…but all good things come to an end and they are on their way home.
Lewandowski’s penalty made him the third player to score at four separate Euros.
What’s next?
With England, Belgium and Portugal all playing over the next 24 hours there’s plenty of big match action for SBOTOP fans to enjoy, and then we’re in the knockout phase, in the blink of an eye.
Group D winners Austria will meet the second placed Group F team; while France will meet the Group E second placed team, and that group is wide open with all four teams on three points, Belgium among them.
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