Kylian Mbappe of France sores the opening goal by penalty kick during a Group D match between the France and Poland at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Dortmund, Germany, yesterday
France 1, Poland 1
Kylian Mbappé, wearing a mask to protect his broken nose, marked his return at the European Championship with a goal against Poland.
It wasn’t enough for a victory yesterday, though, and it’s not enough to solve France’s growing problems at Euro 2024.
Mbappé removed his protective mask to celebrate in front of his team’s fans after converting a 56th-minute penalty. But Robert Lewandowski secured a 1-1 draw for Poland with a 79th-minute spot kick that he got to take twice, leaving the French as the runners-up to Austria in Group D and dropping them into the same half of the draw with Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo, host nation Germany and Spain — three of the continent’s heavyweight nations.
Austria beat the Netherlands 3-2 in a match played at the same time.
The result also means France has yet to score an open-play goal at Euro 2024, having beaten Austria 1-0 on an own-goal and then drawn 0-0 with the Dutch — when Mbappé was missing after breaking his nose against the Austrians.
Les Bleus have advanced, sure, but they haven’t been convincing.
“I would be a lot more concerned if there were no chances, but obviously there is a little bit of room for improvement,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “Maybe there are other teams who have given off something a bit different, but the fact we haven’t scored limits our performance. We are here where we want to be.”
Mbappé returned to the starting lineup against last-place Poland, which was already eliminated before the match began, and was clearly impaired by wearing a black mask that limits his peripheral vision.
He largely kept away from overly physical challenges and didn’t compete for the ball in the air. He was often seen hanging back at the edge of the area, waiting for the ball to come to him.
Deschamps said it was “complicated” for Mbappé.
“I thought he was quite good on his feet with the mask — he needed to get used to it,” the coach said. “But when he sweats, that sticks in his eyes and he needed to wipe his eyes.” STEVE DOUGLAS, DORTMUND, MDT/AP
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