Greece came from a goal down to hold France to a 2-2 draw in their final Euro 2024 qualifier in Group B on Tuesday, denying Didier Deschamps’ side a perfect record in their campaign.
Olivier Giroud teed up Randal Kolo Muani for the opener just before half-time before Greece levelled in the 56th minute through Anastasios Bakasetas and Fotis Ioannidis gave the hosts the lead five minutes later.
Youssouf Fofana equalised for France with a powerful shot from distance in the 74th minute while Kingsley Coman thought he had grabbed a winner but VAR showed his effort did not fully cross the goalline.
The match had nothing at stake for either side after France, who finished with seven wins and a draw, and the Netherlands had claimed the top two spots to qualify for the finals and third-placed Greece had secured a place in the playoffs.
Calvin Stengs netted a hat-trick as the Dutch easily disposed of Gibraltar 6-0 in their Euro 2024 qualifier on Tuesday although the away side did not come anywhere near to France’s record score at the weekend. Mats Wieffer, Teun Koopmeiners and the substitute Cody Gakpo added the other goals for an experimental Dutch side completing their qualifying campaign.
Romania held off Switzerland to secure a 1-0 home victory thanks to a second-half goal from Denis Alibec to finish their qualifying campaign unbeaten and top of Group I. In the battle for first place, Alibec tapped in from close range in the 50th minute to break the deadlock for Romania, who finished with 22 points. The Swiss, who would have leapfrogged Romania into top spot with a win, ended second on 17 points. Both teams had clinched their Euro places on Saturday.
There were some tense moments late in Tuesday’s match when Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji went down with an injury but the Manchester City player finished the game after treatment.
Ante Budimir’s second international goal was enough for Croatia to book their place in Germany following a 1-0 victory over Armenia in Zagreb on Tuesday, enough for a top two finish in qualification Group D.
Quick Guide
Euro 2024: draw and qualified teams
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Qualified teams
Pot 1 Germany (hosts), Portugal, France, Spain, Belgium, England
Pot 2 Hungary, Denmark, Albania, Austria, Turkey, Romania
Pot 3 Scotland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Rep, Netherlands, Croatia
Pot 4 Serbia, Italy, Switzerland,
three playoff winners
Playoffs Bosnia & Herzegovina, Estonia, Finland, Georgia,
Greece, Iceland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Poland, Ukraine, Wales. Draw 11am, Thursday 23 November.
Six semi-finals will be drawn
(to be played on Thursday 21 March), leading to three finals (Tuesday 26 March). The winning three teams will complete the 24-strong Euro 2024 lineup
The tournament
Draw Saturday 2 December.
Six groups of four will be drawn, with the top two in each and the four best third-place sides going into the last 16
Finals
Friday 14 June to Sunday 14 July 2024
Croatia camped in the Armenia half without creating clearcut chances until Budimir’s header two minutes before half-time. Borna Sosa’s cross from the left was perfect for the forward to get ahead of his marker and score from six yards out.
Luka Modric was superb for the home side as he belied his 38 years and pulled the strings in midfield, allowing them to control the tempo in the second half and create several other scoring chances that were spurned. It is a sixth successive qualification for the continental finals for Croatia, and their seventh overall, having finished second and third at the last two World Cup finals, but never gone beyond the quarter-finals at the Euros.
Austria outplayed a toothless Germany to win 2-0 in their friendly, ending their year on a high while piling more pressure on the embattled Euro 2024 hosts who had Leroy Sané sent off early in the second half.
Marcel Sabitzer’s low drive in the 29th minute put the dominant hosts, who have qualified for the Euros, in front with Germany posing no threat in attack and needing 32 minutes for their first shot on goal. Another quick passing move led to Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner chipping the ball over Kevin Trapp in the 73rd minute, with Germany down to 10 men after the 49th-minute red card for Sané.
For the Germany coach, Julian Nagelsmann, who took over in September, it was the second straight loss after Saturday’s 3-2 home defeat to Turkey, forcing him back to the drawing board seven months before the start of the Euros on home soil.
“There is frustration and disappointment. At the end we made it really easy for the Austrians to create chances,” said the Germany captain, İlkay Gündoğan. “We have to be honest that it is not just the defence, defending starts up front.”