World Cup hangover? It appears the France national team don’t understand the meaning of that phrase.
In their first match since losing football’s biggest match to Argentina in Qatar, Les Bleus put an injury-ravaged Netherlands side to the sword.
Ronald Koeman was unable to call on the likes of Frenkie de Jong, Cody Gakpo, Sven Botman and Matthijs de Ligt for Friday evening’s Euro 2024 qualifier.
And from the offset, it was clear the absentees would have a significant bearing on the match.
A virtually full-strength France side went 1-0 ahead in just the second minute of play through newly-appointed vice captain, Antoine Griezmann.
Kylian Mbappe, who is the new captain of the nation, assisted the goal magnificently.
Video: Griezmann’s goal for France vs Netherlands
Mbappé 🤝 Griezmann
Goals make everything better! 🙌
France’s new captain assists his vice captain for an early goal against the Netherlands 🇫🇷#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/UXoUT1rJ9E
— Viaplay Sports UK (@ViaplaySportsUK) March 24, 2023
France moved 2-0 ahead six minutes later courtesy of Dayot Upamecano, with Jasper Cillissen not exactly covering himself in glory.
The Dutch goalkeeper failed to deal with Griezmann’s free-kick into the penalty area, allowing Upamecano to score one of the easiest goals of his career so far.
Didier Deschamps’ side then continued their rampage by making it 3-0 in just the 21st minute of play – and the third goal was by far the best of the lot.
Mbappe, of course, was the man who finished it all off and the whole move was simply a work of art.
Aurelien Tchouameni’s pass was perfect, while Randal Kolo Muani’s dummy to help play in Mbappe was as cheeky as it gets.
Virgil van Dijk looked completely lost trying to marshal the back-line, which isn’t something you see very often…
Video: France’s amazing team goal vs Netherlands, finished off by Mbappe
“It’s Mbappé, it’s inevitable!” 🎙
France look unstoppable as they go 3-0 up against the Dutch and Kylian Mbappé has his first goal as skipper 🇫🇷#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/y0NbujAapr
— Viaplay Sports UK (@ViaplaySportsUK) March 24, 2023
GOAL | France 3-0 The Netherlands (Kylian Mbappe) #Mbappe #FRANED https://t.co/7kMK2bQLZQ
— All Football (@AllFooty_) March 24, 2023
Stop that, France! That’s goal number 37 on the international stage for Mbappe, which puts him just 16 behind record scorer, Olivier Giroud.
The dummy from Kolo Muani to assist him is just so, so good and will probably add a few more million to his already sizeable price tag.
Well, he won’t actually get credited with the assist, which is a bit of a joke in our opinion, as the goal isn’t scored without his key action.
Kolo Muani has lit up European football at Eintracht Frankfurt this season, the striker not letting his infamous miss in the aforementioned World Cup final against Argentina get the better of him.
In 35 games across all club competitions in 2022/23, Kolo Muani has scored 16 goals and assisted a further 14.
He and Mbappe could be a strike partnership to fear for years to come, especially as they’re both just 24 years of age.