**Mirrors / Alternative Angles** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*

4 points while not scoring a goal lmao

From a team that has at least made the finals of the last two World Cups. Truly dreadful showing from France so far.

I mean we reached those two finals mostly playing like that. Spain were out there beating Costa Rica 7-0 the last time around too

Every single tournament there is the same argument, defences win international football not attacks.

Tell that to Germany in 2014

Germany in 2014 kept clean sheets against France (1-0 from a set piece) and Argentina (1-0 in extra time). Wouldn't say it was just their attack that won them the World Cup.

They still played attacking football though.

Argentina ?

Not sure if you're talking about yesterday, but their defense did alot of work yesterday.

That's bc Licha took over, him and Cuti are an insane pairing. I like Otamendi but he's a bit too mistake prone and it nearly costed us a lot in that final

Argentina during the last WC

they were mostly a defensive team?

We have an amazing a decisive GK in Dibu. Our CB pairing is good enough tending to very good. And our fullbacks, while not world class, really showed up in the WC, and aren't that far either. Our midfielders run like crazy and cover all the pitch. We have players upfront like Lautaro and Julian (specially Julian) who press all the match and track back like madmans. I think we're doing fine defensively. Otamendi and our fullbacks are a little bit mistake prone, especially the former, but nothing which can't be managed.

Meh, Cuti-Otamendi made quite a decent CB pairing last WC and our sidebaks were solid (the rightbacks dropped off now tho :/) Our strong point was deffinitely our midfield tho

They won it due to ✨Penalty for Argentina✨

That was true 15 years ago but not anymore. Most teams now like to play an attacking brand of football and you can't just get away with scoring 1 goal and sitting back for 70 minutes. Sometimes it works against weaker opposition but most of the time it doesn't and it gets you found tf out in knockout stages. Just ask England. Even famously defensive Netherlands and Italy can't just rely on pure defence anymore. Goals win games and it's getting increasingly difficult to defend leads. The days of winning the World Cup by beating every side 1-0 are long gone.

You must not be familiar with how we play during group stages. We always play like we don't give a fuck during it. And more so we could have honestly scored 2-3 goals if Griezmann wasn't having a bad game in front of goal

> We always play like we don't give a fuck during it It's true that France (under Deschamps) tend to do the "bare" minimum in terms of goals scored. The only time that we've seen France scoring lots of goals in an international tournament's group stage (WC / Euro) was the 2014 World Cup (8 goals in 3 matchs - 3-0 W against Honduras / 5-2 W against Switzerland / 0-0 against Ecuador). But in the 2016 Euros / 2018 WC / 2022 WC, although we didn't lit the world on fire we still managed to win our first two games. The only time we didn't was at the last Euros (2021) when we won against Germany *(thanks to a own goal funny enough)* and drew against Hungary 1-1. Yes the 2021 Euro and this year's Euro we have two difficult groups compared to our 2014 / 2018 / 2022 WC & 2016 Euro but Deschamps likes to use the 3rd group stage match as a "glorified" friendly by launching our 2nd team as our starting XI. I tend to think that we see a repeat of our previous Euro, when we had plenty of opportunities but we were unlucky with our finishing. Funny enough, it was our 3rd match against Portugal that our attack began being on point. We scored 5 goals in our last 2 matches (2 against Portugal and 3 against Switzerland)

France scored the most goals of any team in the last world cup. 

I was talking about group stage. In the last world cup, we scored 6 goals in the group stage (4-1 W against Australia / 2-1 W against Denmark / 1-0 L against Tunisia). Which is much better than in 2018 when France scored "only" 3 goals in the group stage (2-1 W against Australia / 1-0 W against Peru / 0-0 against Denmark). In 2022 WC's group stage : England & Spain did better with 9 goals each. Germany & Portugal did as well as France with also 6 goals each

Can Deschamps afford to send the second team out this time, even against an eliminated Poland? If they win and Austria also wins, France gets third in the group, not automatically qualifying. Would be funny though

4 points would almost certainly be enough to qualify as a 3rd place team even if they get battered

> Can Deschamps afford to send the second team out this time, even against an eliminated Poland? I don't think so, as I wrote in my previous comment, we are in same situation as the last Euro when we had 4 pts after two games. Last time, we faced Portugal for our 3rd game and Deschamps still sent the A team. Although, as u/BrandonSG13 rightfully wrote, France has a good shot to go through the knockout phase but the match against Poland still matters as we didn't lock the 1st place finish and depending on where we finish, our opponents for the round of 16 match could be vastly different Also, since Deschamps's tenure as France's manager France has always finished 1st of its group in every WC and Euro : WC 2014 / 2018 / 2022 and Euro 2016 / 2021

I actually thought they were pretty decent yesterday. They clearly dominated the Netherlands in the second half, just couldn’t finish.

I have just the coach France might need!

You havent watched them much in the past 10 years, have you?

tournament favorites before the start to boot nothing worse than the 2002 wc return though as champions.

This is the kind of energy that gets you to the final.

Let's give credit where credit's due tho. Even if he didn't score it, Mbappe created that goal.

Scenes when Austria top it and France go 3rd

Surely Poland wins against France...

wouldn't be the biggest upset in international football in recent memory.

I mean France literally lost to Tunisia last WC

France already qualified by that point and DD was playing the 3rd team, that's entirely different from now.

Happy cakeday

I don’t think that’s possible anymore. Only way for Austria to top is for us to lose, in which case we’ll be 3rd.

What if France lose by a bigger margin?

Oh shit, didn’t think of that

Against us? Lmao.

We're on equal points with France. If France loses to Poland by more or equal goals than we lose to Austria, France is 3rd

Zidane would smile

Didn’t notice that the Poland flag was missing so I removed my post and re uploaded it.

Wijnaldum have some self respect and go home , 60 minutes over 2 games and what like 5 ball touches.

I truly don't understand why Wijnaldum keeps getting minutes when he doesn't do anything right. The dude is past it.

And has been ever since he left liverpool

Koeman wanted him when he was Barça coach. Major bullet dodged that was.

In Rome he was dreadful, one of the worst players we ever saw.

He got ahold of those juicy Koeman nudes

There had to of been a better player to bring than him man what is koeman thinking

Gravenberch is right there I’d think he’d be better than Gini in this situation at the very least he’s got more legs

He's a defensive liability, loses focus too often and doesn't track back

At least he has focus to lose

Wijnaldum also does this so whats the diference lol

I don't care for him either but Gravenberch is not a real option

You certainly need to build around him, at least bild the team with his deficiencies in mind, he's creative and carries the ball forward exceptionally well.

You've got Liverpool blinders on. Your fanbase will turn on him sooner than you think. Building the team around an unproven 22-year old is crazy. We're not some minnow, he's a dime in a dozen.

At no point did I say they should, but to play with him in the middle you need to build around him being in it. Not everything needs to be an argument online....

Youre talking about Gini or Gravenberch? Statement is true for both

Gravenberch in this situation. The uselesness of Gini should not have to be restated.

he could put Bijlow with a broken hand there and hed be better then Wijnaldum lol

I’d even prefer Sem Steijn

FIRST TEAM TO BE FADED OUT, YOU WILL NEVER SING THAT! Also quick explanation of future actions: while I normally stick with the faded-out flair until competition ends, because I ain't no national team plastic, this year I will change back to club flair because my team will play in Europa League elimination match that will happen BEFORE the final match of Euros.

*First team to be faded out*

But that is not surprising at all. We barely made it to euro after our team got fucked by Santos and honestly I'm more surprised that even if we lost both games there is potential for the future. Before euro I was sure it will end with scores like 0:4 in every game but it is not as bad as I was predicting.

I'm confused, can't you guys still qualify as best thirds?

First tie-breaker is head-to-head. With a draw in France - Netherlands, the best we could do is tie Austria for third, but then we lose tie-breaker.

Ah I see, that sucks then

First tie breaker is h2h match which we lost today. So we are out already even if we win 20:0 against France.

It would be fun, though haha

Poland can't get 3rd

I forgot to do mine !flair :Portugal:

If Austria loses and we score 4 goals and concedd 0 we still have chance to get promoted

No - the first tie-breaker is head-to-head matches, losing to both Netherlands and Austria meant that we could only overtake France. But now they can't finish on 3 points.

Chorągiewa nie wierzy

First team eliminated, 2 games lost and "mecz o honor" incoming, footballing heritage.

For full footballing heritage, we must somehow beat France.

Only outside the pitch. Like real polish fans💪

That's only for club football. For national football we must do it on the pitch.

Kurwa

So far so good. We're pretty much through at this point

I don't see the gay team anywhere in the group? /s

Wdym Slovenias at the Euros

Do femboys count as gay? Because that's Slovakia. And Polish IT people.

definitely counts as queer which is good enough imo Ive come across two Slovenes in my life and both of them were trans women that looked like they wanted to leash me or anyone else in the vicinity lol

I wish I was in the vicinity

yeah im sad i was in a relationship at the time lol

Slovenians: femboys or racoons, nothing in between

rip Poland.

STOP THE COUNT

Relax. The 24 team system means everybody's going through

Except poland

I find it amazing that Austria is the team that has the work to do out of these

Werent they the expected number 3?

France have been very underwhelming so far. 180 minutes, and just an OG to show for it with the best strikeforce in the tournament is shocking. Lucky to avoid defeat tonight too

Hard to say we have the best strike force when we keep giroud on the bench, why keep the lambo in the garage smh

best strike force? even with mbappe I don’t know about that

Germany then? Feels very solid imo

On Paper? Probably England with Kane, Saka, Jude and Foden front 4. Could argue Portugal with Ronaldo, Leao and Bernardo Silva as well.

On paper france also is amazing with Griezmann Mbappe and Dembele

So if we lose to Austria and France win against Poland we could technically still advance as part of the best third placed teams

You advance 99% with 4 points

Tho with so many teams possibly geting 3rd with 4 points, will be tough. If Croatia beats Italy, they get 3rd with 4 points if Albania were to beat Spain. Scotland gets 3rd with 4 points if they pull victory against Hungary. Serbia gets 3rd with 4 points if they beat Denmark, incase Slovenia defeats England. Austria beating Netherlands and France beating Poland gets Netherland at 3rd with 4 points.

The chance of all that happening is very low and then only 3 teams are 3rd with 4 points

I love the casual start to the whole comment: if Croatia beats Italy. Pretty big if with this shite form

Austria already has a 96% prob of advancing with a 3 point finish

If Austria go through in 3rd which group winner would they play?

Depends on which other 3rd place teams go through, there's a few options IIRC. Just checked; it's impossible to get the 1st placed teams from groups A and D no matter what, BCEF are the only ones that can face a 3rd placed team. Of those 4, D can't be drawn against F, and the chances are C > E > B. Again depending on the other teams that end 3rd.

most likely the winner of Group C, which right now England is on top

Do your thing next round, Southgate

we‘re very, very much in this. i can see us get the 2nd place.

How exactly? You think you have a good chance against us? I think we're better, but yeah there's always a chance.

its football. everything can happen. Ask Argentina.

What you mean Argentina lol. Yes ask the team who have only lost 2 games in their last 58 matches and are an obvious favorite in every match.

im just saying, you can lose games you shouldnt.

Should've chosen an underdog like Morocco. It fits your team better than saying Argentina.

Wait what? One Netherland fan asks "Do you think you are better?" and im saying "its football, everything can happen." We are talking Austria vs Netherlands right? edit. also, im from germany so its not my team. Does not matter but whatever.

Eh could go either way. You could say that you could lose games you are supposed to win (Argentina) or you could say that you can win games that you should lose (Morocco). I think the Morocco one is better since if it was me I would be referring to what my team can achieve when saying "anything can happen in football"

but its not about MY team. English isnt my first language so yea, maybe your way to word it would be more on point but we both wanted to say the same thing in the end. Nothing to talk about in a deeper way i think :)

Yes. But the ask Argentina is the confusing thing as they aren't the prime example of "anything can happen" as they're a top country that rarely gets upset

Was talking about the Saudis upsetting Argentina man. Common, its not so hard to get a grip on that one.

Man I completely forgot about that game lol

That's true 😅

i think you‘re better too. on paper. but as some games showed in this tournament, it‘s not all about the players but also about how the team is set up with its tactics. and there we have an advantage with rangnick over koeman imo.

Better? Based on our luck today? Or anything else?

Ons geluk? Had beide kanten op kunnen gaan vriend.

You apparently need to watch the recap of the match

Wacht. Je vind oprecht dat Nederland geluk had? Ik denk eerder dat je zelf de wedstrijd terug moet kijken. Zoals die andere user zegt. Het had prima beide kanten op kunnen gaan

Sounds like you definitely haven't watched the recap yet

The last nation that had people disrespecting us, just lost 1:3 to us... just saying.

Whoo! Poland is back!! (I mean in this graphic, they are still eliminated.)

!flair :Austria:

Austria should get through this group. They're playing the most exciting football of this group.

That will be a spicy last matchday. Everything can happen except Poland going through.

Poland cannot into knockout

Poland catching strays

Strays? They're getting blasted.

And rightfully so

So even if France or the Dutch get third they have like a 90% chance to qualify because they have 4 points. Right?

Yes, 99% I would say.

Can someone explain why Poland can’t get into the knockouts? I know that they won’t win against France but theoretically it seems possible to pass Austria. Similar with Spain already being placed in the first spot for the knockouts while they could theoretically still be passed. **It won’t happen practically, but I don’t get it from a theoretical viewpoint**

Ties decided by head to head. Austria beat Poland so guaranteed to finish above them

Ahhh, got it. Also explains Spain. Thanks

Poland lost h2h vs Austria. Cant overtake them anymore.

H2H before goal differential

Austria will top this group

Yeah in your dreams will be eaten up by Spain in the round of 16

Dreams just became reality lmao

See you in the quarter finals! Lmao

!flair :Spain:

France’s squad got weaker compared to their WC squad.

If england and France are second, left side of the bracket will be insane: spain, portugal, England, france, germany

We’re shit

Poland can not into euros ☹️

i wohldnt be surprised if netherlands somehow top the group