Going into the tournament, these two teams were seen as the favorites in Group D, they showed why in the opening matchday. The matchup between the Netherlands and France will take place at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig on Friday, June 21st. Both teams are very competitive, which will bring us up-tempo football, and this game can easily go either way.
Netherlands vs France: Initial situation
France did not play as well as they could in the opening game against Austria, but they still managed to win. The Netherlands had to push themselves to the limit and win after Poland scored first in their matchup. At the end of the day, both teams have three points after one game, which puts them very close to advancing to the next phase of the competition.
Netherlands Stats & Form
The Netherlands are coming off a 2-1 win over Poland in the opening matchday. Things did not start as planned after Poland took the lead in the 16th minute. However, the Netherlands kept playing their game, and at the half-hour mark, the game was tied after Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo scored. The Netherlands kept pushing, and finally, in the 83rd minute, Wout Weghorst scored the game-winner only two minutes after he entered the game.
That was the Netherlands’ eighth win in the last ten games. They came into the tournament after beating Iceland and Canada 4-0 in the last two friendly games. The only two losses in the last ten games came against Germany 2-1 in a friendly game and against France in the qualifiers.
Each of their last six games has gone over 2.5 goals in total.
France Stats & Form
Given the odds, France is the second favorite to win the EURO 2024. They started with a 1-0 win against Austria, with their opponents scoring their own goal. Both teams split possession almost equally, and France had only three shots on target, which is not as good as everyone expected. Still, there were reports that numerous French players got some sort of virus only a couple of days before this game, so given the circumstances, all that mattered for them was to start with a win.
France has six wins, two draws, and two losses in the last ten games, with both of the losses coming against Germany. In this stretch, France defeated Gibraltar by 14-0, which is one of the biggest wins in European football. In four of France’s last five games, one team failed to score.
Netherlands vs France: Head to Head
The Netherlands and France have played 14 times before. France has eight wins, the Netherlands has four, and two games ended in a tie. These two teams were in the same group in the qualifiers for this tournament, and France won both of the games, 4-0 at home and 2-1 on the road. The last time they played at the Euro was in the 2008 group stage, when the Netherlands won 4-1. The Oranje also won the group stage in 2000, this time by 3-2, while France won the quarterfinals in 1996 after the penalty shootout.
Netherlands vs France Odds
France is a slight favorite going into this game with 110 odds going in their favor while the odds for the Netherlands’ win are at 225. The odds for a draw are 250.
The total goals margin is set at 2.5 with -110 for over and -110 for under.
Betting tip and prediction: Netherlands vs France (21.06.2024)
Given the performances on the opening matchday of EURO 2024, the Netherlands was the better team, but we should point out that France won both games against them in the qualifiers not that long ago.
What matters most is the fact that both teams won the first matchday, and it is safe to say that they have already gone through to the next round. The Netherlands looked like they were on top of their form, and the late goal against Poland gave them extra confidence. France barely won against Austria, and Kylian Mbappe’s injury is something that France will need to deal with. A broken nose is not something that will keep Mbappe from playing, but it is difficult to say if he will play his best football with a mask on.
Taking everything into consideration, it seems like both teams would be satisfied by sharing the points, so we go with a draw in this one.