Cologne (SID) – Favorites France and England have gained confidence shortly before the start of the European Championships, but the Netherlands will have to improve significantly. The Three Lions came with little difficulty for a 1–0 (0–0) against Austria, which was filled with many Bundesliga pros, Germany’s group rivals France beat Wales 3–0 (1–0) – but Neko played against Williams because an early red card (26.) overtook him for a long time and therefore could gather only little knowledge.
Meanwhile, Oranje avoided just one defeat – against Scotland in 2:2 (1:1), Memphis Depay (17th, 89th) scored twice. Jack Hendry (11th) and Kevin Nisbett (64th) gave the Scots the lead twice. Bondscotch Frank de Boer used the game to allow multiple players time to play. Against Georgia on Sunday (6 pm), the 1988 European champions will complete their dress rehearsal for the final round (11 June to 11 July).
England had a lot of trouble with DFB Cup winner Judd Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund) “Bundesliga selection” from Austria in the starting eleven. But young star Bukayo Saka (57.) finally broke the spell. The Austrians started with ten professionals who are under contract in Germany. Goalkeeper Daniel Bachchan (Watford FC) was the exception.
Karim Benzema played his first international game in five-and-a-half years for world champions France – and promptly missed a penalty (27th). The big favorites for the European title could be missed: Kylian Mbappe (34th), Antoine Griezmann (47th) and Ousmane Dembele (79th) scored for the team of coach Didier Deschamps.
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