World Cup finalists France head into Euro 2024 as the pre-tournament favorites. This is a side are so stacked with talent that you feel their second XI would have a good chance of going deep into the competition. Beyond that, they have experience, too, with coach Didier Deschamps having already taken them to two World Cup finals and the final of Euro 2016.
You sort of feel that France can only beat themselves — like they arguably did when they were knocked out of the Euros last time, eliminated by Switzerland on penalties in the round of 16. France have one of the outstanding keepers in Europe (Mike Maignan), a well-drilled back line, a midfield that is deep (and will only get deeper once Christopher Nkunku is fit) and an embarrassment of riches up top, as evidenced by the fact that three of Les Bleus’ all-time leading goal-scorers (Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann) will be at the Euros.
Austria are second seeds after a qualifying campaign that saw them beat Sweden home and away. They’re led by Ralf Rangnick who you’d imagine is highly motivated after his humdrum stint at Manchester United and would love nothing more than to regain his status as one of the game’s tactical visionaries. He can count on the leadership of David Alaba at the back and a high-energy core of midfielders to make life difficult for any opponent.
The Dutch finished behind France in the qualifying group and Ronald Koeman’s crew looked like less than the sum of its parts for much of the campaign. They’re loaded at the back (Virgil van Dijk, Denzel Dumfries, Sven Botman, Nathan Aké, Matthijs de Ligt, Jurriën Timber) and have an interesting mix of young and old in midfield (Frenkie de Jong, Ryan Gravenberch, Xavi Simons), but you wonder if Cody Gakpo and Wout Weghorst will be enough up front.
On paper, Poland with the likes of Piotr Zielinski and Robert Lewandowski look like the biggest threat of the playoff quartet, but they were disappointing and unsettled in qualifying. You wonder if a better drilled group like Wales or Finland might just pip them and provide a greater threat.
MUST-SEE MATCH: France vs. Austria
The Dutch are the second-best team in the group, but we’ve seen enough of them against France. What Rangnick might conjure up to to stop Mbappe & Co. might make for a more interesting clash. Austria have a bunch of disruptive, high-energy midfielders in the likes of Xaver Schlager, Nicolas Seiwald, Konrad Laimer, Christoph Baumgartner and Marcel Sabitzer, all of whom have come through the Red Bull system. Might that give them a fighting chance?
The fact that this will be the first game in the group stage also comes into play, as Deschamps will have some big decisions to make going into the tournament in terms of his starting XI. You never want to bet against France, but if there’s an upset cooking, it might well be here.
France Euro 2024 Tickets
June 17: Austria vs France (Dusseldorf) – Buy Euro 2024 Tickets
June 21: Netherlands vs France (Leipzig) – Buy Euro 2024 Tickets
June 25: France vs Play-off winner A (Wales/Poland/Estonia/Finland) (Dortmund) – Buy Euro 2024 Tickets
