UEFA Euro 2024 Group D gets underway on Sunday with Poland versus the Netherlands, ahead of Monday's meeting between pre-tournament favorites France and Austria. The Poles and the Dutch will meet in Hamburg to get things going in a group that, while expected to follow form and see the French and Dutch advance as the top two, could cause problems for a or both European giants.
Ronald Koeman's side will be keen to make a fast start to put early pressure on Les Bleus, but the Netherlands' hopes of beating Les Bleus into top spot have suffered a double blow with Frenkie de Jong and Teun Koopmeiners closing in injury on the eve of the match. tournament on top of the absence of Marten de Roon and Jurrien Timber.
Michal Probierz's Eagles will hope to start with an encouraging result despite losing talisman Robert Lewandowski to injury, at least this opening game and possibly beyond with the Polish medical staff.do everything” to keep the Barcelona man fit further. Poland may hope to pick up a point with a view to finishing in the top two in the three matches in Group D, but that would seriously complicate matters.
Here are our storylines, how to watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Sunday June 16 | Time: 9am ET
- Place: Volksparkstadion-Hamburg, Germany
- Watch: FS1 or Fubo (try for free)
- Chances: Poland +480; Sign +300; Netherlands -167
Group D
One of the most attractive groups of this European Championship consists of two superpowers of European football in France and the Netherlands. Two of the world's biggest talent producers have been battling it out for top five status in the UEFA coefficient in recent years, with Ligue 1 pulling out of the Eredivisie last season. However, the French and Dutch face two tough sides: Ralf Rangnick's Austria and Poland with some quality pieces despite their general inability to translate that performance on paper into results on the pitch. Almost everyone will expect Les Bleus and Oranje to advance as the top two here, but in what order is yet to be determined and both will know they cannot afford to make a mistake against the Austrians or the Poles.
Team news
Poland: Arkadiusz Milik's threat will be a miss, especially with Lewandowski now in, while Karol Linetty has fallen out of favor along with Tomasz Kedziora and Matty Cash. Lewandowski will of course be captain when fit and will be joined by regulars Wojciech Szczesny, Kamil Grosicki and Piotr Zielinksi, all of whom are approaching the 100 cap mark that Lewandowski has long since surpassed. However, it has been confirmed that the Barca man is after this, so expect to see Krzysztof Piatek more prominently. Moreover, only three of the players chosen by Probierz practice their profession in their home country.
Possible Poland XI: Szczesny; Bednarek, Dawidowicz, Kiwior; Frankowski, Piotrowski, Slisz, Zielinski, Zalewski; Swiderski, Piatek.
The Netherlands: The big news for Koeman in the run-up to this match is the loss of both Frenkie de Jong and Teun Koopmeiners to injury in midfield, while Marten de Roon is also injured and Jurrien Timber has been absent from any action for a long time. Bologna's Joshua Zirkzee is also out despite looking fantastic at club level in Serie A, but is not injured like AFC Ajax's Steven Berghuis, who is not far from the 50-cap mark. Sven Botman is absent for a long time due to an injury operation and therefore has yet to play for the Dutch team at senior level.
Possible Netherlands XI: Bridge; Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Aké; Reijnders, Schouten, Veerman; Simon, Depay, Gakpo.
Prediction
Although this match is somewhat stripped of star power now that there is no De Jong or Lewandowski anymore, it should still be a quality encounter, with the Dutch outpacing their Polish counterparts by a goal or so. Choose: Poland 1, Netherlands 2.
