Netherlands and France secured their knockout spots with the first goalless draw of UEFA Euro 2024 in Leipzig, Germany.
Xavi Simons seemingly won the game for the Netherlands with a 69th minute strike in a scrappy contest, but his goal was disallowed due to Denzel Dumfries’ offside position.
France and Netherlands remain joint-top on four points apiece ahead of Austria who beat Poland 3-1 to sit third in Group D, courtesy of second-half goals from Christoph Baumgartner and Marko Arnautovic after Gernot Trauner’s header was cancelled out by Krzysztof Piatek.
Poland however have become the first team to be eliminated from the tournament after Netherlands and France drew their game.
Across in Group E, second-half goals from Mykola Shaparenko and Roman Yaremchuk saw Ukraine come from behind to beat Slovakia 2-1 and go second, having initially fallen behind to Ivan Schranz’s header.
Sat joint-top coming into this game alongside Austria after the latter beat Poland in the teatime kick-off, Netherlands and France both made a frantic start but the Dutch almost went ahead after 55 seconds as Jeremie Frimpong broke forward apace but fired wide.
Didier Deschamps’ Les Bleus then almost took a fourth minute lead but Antoine Griezmann’s strike was flicked over by Bart Verbruggen.
Griezmann was in the thick of the action in the 14th minute as he first missed Adrien Rabiot’s shot-making pass, then fired wide moments later.
Liverpool forward, Cody Gakpo failed to punish Griezmann’s sloppiness three minutes later as he curled low towards the bottom right corner but France’s Mike Maignan made a comfortable save.
The warm humidity inside the Red Bull Arena and Netherlands’ slow tempo soon combined to slow the remainder of the first half down, with neither team mustering much quality in the final third to break the deadlock before half-time.
France however were first out of the traps in the second half and N’Golo Kante fired wide in the 52nd minute.
Following a return to the slow edgy play of the first half for just over 10 minutes, Kante was involved in a 65th minute free-flowing move in which he fed Griezmann who fired wide to further compound a sloppy evening for the Frenchman’s end product.
France’s sloppiness was punished in the 69th minute as Memphis Depay laid the ball off for Simons to rifle into the far bottom right corner, but the offside flag was raised for Dumfries as Simons celebrated to Netherlands’ annoyance and a VAR check saw the decision stand.
Both teams subsequently made substitutions in search of a late winner but neither team could break the deadlock, instead settling for the first goalless draw of the tournament and guaranteed spots in the Round of 16.
Teams
Netherlands – Bart Verbruggen, Nathan Ake, Virgil van Dijk, Stefan de Vrij, Denzel Dumfries, Tijjani Reijnders, Jerdy Schouten (Wijnaldum 73′), Cody Gakpo, Xavi Simons (Veerman 73′), Jeremie Frimpong (Geertruida 73′), Memphis Depay (Weghorst 79′)
Substitutes: Brian Brobbey, Steven Bergwijn, Justin Bijlow, Daley Blind, Mark Flekken, Lutsharel Geertruida, Ryan Gravenberch, Ian Maatsen, Donyell Malen, Joey Veerman, Wout Weghorst, Georginio Wijnaldum, Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs de Light, Mickey van de Ven
France – Mike Maignan, Theo Hernandez, William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano, Jules Kounde, Adrien Rabiot, Aurelién Tchouameni, N’Golo Kante, Marcus Thuram (Giroud 75′), Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele (Coman 75′)
Substitutes: Alphonse Areola, Bradley Barcola, Eduardo Camavinga, Jonathan Clauss, Kingsley Coman, Youssouf Fofana, Olivier Giroud, Randal Kolo Muani, Ibrahima Konate, Kylian Mbappe, Ferland Mendy, Benjamin Pavard, Brice Samba, Warren Zaire-Emery,