France blew the chance to finish first in their group despite Kylian Mbappe scoring his maiden European Championship goal in a 1-1 draw with Poland on Tuesday, as Austria won a thriller against the Netherlands to snatch top spot.
Didier Deschamps’ France failed to top their group at a major tournament for the first time since Euro 2012 after being made to pay for a series of missed chances.
“We’ve achieved our first objective,” said Deschamps. “Even if we don’t have the spot we were aiming for because we are second. A new competition is about to start.”
Austria, who lost their opening game to France, grabbed a 3-2 victory over the Dutch to wrap up a last-16 berth and relegate their already-qualified opponents to third place in Group D.
France dominated for long periods against Poland but have still only scored twice in Germany — an own goal by Austria’s Maximilian Woeber and Mbappe’s penalty.
Les Bleus will face the runners-up from Group E, in which Belgium, Ukraine, Romania and Slovakia all have three points, in the last 16.
Poland goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski, playing in place of Wojciech Szczesny, made two fine stops to deny Mbappe — playing in a mask after breaking his nose against Austria — in the opening period.
Mbappe finally broke his Euros duck in the 56th minute, though, as he slotted in a penalty after Ousmane Dembele was felled by an ill-advised challenge from Jakub Kiwior just inside the box.
But Poland were awarded a spot-kick themselves with 13 minutes remaining for a foul on Karol Swiderski.
Robert Lewandowski’s weak initial effort was comfortably saved by Mike Maignan, but the France goalkeeper had strayed off his line and the Poland talisman dispatched his second attempt.
– Austria power through –
Dutch fans turned Berlin orange as they continued to light up the tournament, but it was the Austrians in full voice early on as their team were rewarded for an enterprising start when Donyell Malen inadvertently fired into his own net.
Malen’s day took another turn for the worse when he dragged a poor shot wide when clean through on goal inside the area.
But the Netherlands drew level less than two minutes after the restart, as Austria midfielder Florian Grillitsch lost the ball in midfield before Cody Gakpo cut inside and finished off a rapid counter-attack.
Just as the Oranje started to get on top, Austria reclaimed the lead as Romano Schmid’s header found the net via a deflection off Stefan de Vrij on the line.
Memphis Depay struck with an excellent touch and volley to equalise again after a good header down by substitute Wout Weghorst.
But one of the games of the tournament was not done yet and Marcel Sabitzer hammered home to put Austria in front for the third time in the 81st minute.
Ralf Rangnick’s men now have a match against either Turkey, the Czech Republic or Georgia to look forward to as they bid to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
The Netherlands will play the winners of either Groups B, C or E.
– Underwhelming England out to silence critics –
Later on Tuesday, England will attempt to take top spot in Group C and avoid a last-16 meeting with hosts Germany when they face Slovenia in Cologne.
Gareth Southgate’s side struggled for their best form in a 1-0 win over Serbia and a stodgy 1-1 draw with Denmark, but would secure first place with a victory.
England have been widely criticised back home, with Harry Kane hitting out at TV pundits and former England strikers Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer.
“Our performance will have to talk for itself,” said Southgate. “It’s important to answer the questions as well as I can but I will be judged on the way the team play.”
Slovenia may need to win in order to reach the knockout phase of a major tournament for the first time.
Denmark can secure qualification with a draw against Serbia, who are level with Slovenia on one point in their maiden Euros as an independent nation.
Croatia, who were held to an agonising 1-1 draw with Italy on Monday, will be eliminated if England do not win 3-0 or by four goals.
AFP
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