Mbappé a possibility as France, Netherlands meet at UEFA Euro 2024 on TSN
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France won their opening match at UEFA Euro 2024 and could have injured superstar Kylian Mbappé back for their heavyweight clash with Netherlands, who also enter the Group D match off a victory.
Mbappé was instrumental in the own goal that helped send France to a 1-0 victory over Austria, when his cross in the 38th minute was headed into the net by defender Maximilian Wober as he tried to defend against France forward Antoine Griezmann.
"We’ve got the quality and talent, but there are a lot of teams that have that,” said France head coach Didier Deschamps. “At the highest level, there’s a need to be solid and to work hard together. We did that this evening, those that started, those that came off the bench. Everyone is progressing, and there’s a common denominator between all these matches: the athletic intensity being at the very highest level."
Mbappé was forced out of the match in the 86th minute with a broken nose after his head clashed with the shoulder of Austria’s Kevin Danso, causing him to bleed profusely.
The 25-year-old returned to practice leading up to the game and could improve enough to take part for France.
“He will undergo treatment in the coming days, without undergoing surgery immediately,” the Fédération Française de Football said in a statement. “A mask will be made so as to allow the No. 10 of the French team to consider resuming competition after a period devoted to treatment.”
N'Golo Kante was named man of the match in France’s opening win for his work in the midfield proving his importance to their game plan.
“Of course he was brilliant, he was bright tonight,” Deschamps said about the 33-year-old. “We needed that.”
Netherlands also got off to a winning start thanks to substitute Wout Weghorst, who came off the bench in the 81st minute and found the net two minutes later in a 2-1 victory over Poland in their tournament-opening match.
Cody Gakpo had the first marker for Netherlands who are trying to make it out of the group stage for the second straight European Championship after failing to qualify for the event in 2016.
"It should have been 4-1 to us after an hour [against Poland],” said Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman. “We played very well but were not able to find the net. If we had taken our chances, you would have said we were at the same level as Germany. [Not converting our chances] made things dangerous for us, but we got lucky and scored a second. So even though the performance wasn't 100 per cent good, the end result boosted our confidence."
Netherlands will have little sympathy for France’s injury woes as they were forced to rule out both midfielders Frenkie de Jong and Teun Koopmeiners prior to the start of the tournament.
Both countries have previously lifted the European Championship, France in 1984 and 2000, Netherlands in 1988.
The teams were grouped together during qualifying for UEFA Euro 2024, with France winning both matches they played.
France earned a 4-0 victory at Stade de France in Saint-Denis and a 2-1 triumph at Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.