Thursday, March 23, 2023 – 1:33 PM
ABU DHABI, 23rd March / WAM / Only 3 months following losing the final match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the French national team, the former world champion, will face a difficult confrontation at the beginning of the search for a seat in the upcoming European Nations Cup (Euro 2024). .
The French national team will host its Dutch counterpart tomorrow, Friday, in the opening of its qualifiers, to be an early confrontation at the top of Group Two, according to most of the expectations that preceded these qualifiers.
The match between France and the Netherlands takes most of the attention out of all the eight matches, which will be held tomorrow in the first round of the qualifiers.
The match comes 3 months following the French national team lost to its Argentine counterpart in the World Cup final, following the two teams tied 3-3 in the match thanks to 3 goals scored by the dangerous French striker Kylian Mbappe, who represents one of the most important elements that the team relies on in these qualifiers.
France coach Didier Deschamps decided on Tuesday to award the team captain’s armband to Mbappe following fellow goalkeeper Hugo Lloris retired following the World Cup.
The captaincy represents an additional incentive for Mbappe, who was crowned top scorer for the 2022 World Cup with 8 goals, and seems likely to break many records with his country in the next few years.
And while the French national team lost the opportunity to defend its world title by losing to the Argentine national team, the Dutch team, led by its former coach Louis van Gaal, left the tournament in the quarter-finals, defeating the Argentine national team, also on penalties.
The Dutch national team is entering the Euro 2024 qualifiers with a new technical management, through the return of Ronald Koeman to the position of coach, succeeding coach Van Gaal.
The French and Dutch teams had previously met repeatedly, and the last confrontations between them were in the group stage of the European Nations League in 2018, and the French team won 2-1 at home, then the Dutch team won 2-0 at home.
In addition to this match, the second group will also witness another match tomorrow between Gibraltar and Greece.
In the rest of the matches tomorrow, Sweden will meet Belgium, Austria with Azerbaijan in Group F, Bulgaria with Montenegro (Montenegro), Serbia with Lithuania in Group G, the Czech Republic with Poland, and Moldova with the Faroe Islands in Group E.
Mustafa Badr Al-Din / Ahmed Zahran
