France finish their Euro 2024 group stage journey with a clash against Poland on late Tuesday afternoon.
Didier Deschamps' side have not ensured qualification to the knockout stages just yet but are as good as there having picked up four points from meetings with Austria and the Netherlands. Their place in the last 16 will be guaranteed by a victory or draw against Poland or if Austria fail to beat the Netherlands.
The 2018 world champions have been a tad underwhelming in their opening group games, sneaking a 1-0 win over Austria thanks to an own goal and only managing a goalless draw with the Dutch as Kylian Mbappe sat out. Despite boasting an incredibly talented squad, none of their stars have scored in Germany.
It could be an awful lot worse though, as it is for Poland. An injury to Robert Lewandowski has proved costly and they became the first team to be eliminated from the competition after their recent 3-1 defeat to Austria. Yet again, Poland have frustrated on the big stage.
Here is 90min's guide to France vs Poland at Euro 2024.
France vs Poland H2H Record (Last Five Games)
Current form (all competitions)
France | Poland |
|---|---|
Netherlands 0-0 France - 21/06/24 | Poland 1-3 Austria - 21/06/24 |
Austria 0-1 France - 17/06/24 | Poland 1-2 Netherlands - 16/06/24 |
France 0-0 Canada - 09/06/24 | Poland 2-1 Turkey - 10/06/24 |
France 3-0 Luxembourg - 05/06/24 | Poland 3-1 Ukraine - 07/06/24 |
France 3-2 Chile - 26/03/23 | Wales 0-0 Poland (4-5 on pens) - 26/03/24 |
Country | TV channel / live stream |
|---|---|
United Kingdom | BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport Web |
United States | Fox Network, Fox Sports App, foxsports.com, fuboTV, Sling, ViX |
Canada | TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TVA Sports, TVA+ |
Mbappe was an unused substitute during the goalless draw with the Netherlands on Friday night after suffering a broken nose in the opener. The masked Frenchman will play again this tournament and could return to the lineup against Poland.
Aurelien Tchouameni was brought in to replace his new Real Madrid teammate having missed the end of the season with Los Blancos. His return saw Adrien Rabiot feature out on the left-hand side and Marcus Thuram play through the middle.
France predicted lineup vs Poland (4-3-3): Maignan; Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Hernandez; Rabiot, Kante, Griezmann; Dembele, Thuram, Barcola.
Poland will play their final game of Euro 2024 on Tuesday but life might have been different had Barcelona forward Lewandowski been fit for the start of the tournament. Having missed the 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands, the skipper returned from the bench against Austria last time out.
Having started the first match, Bartosz Salamon was only fit enough for the bench against Austria due to injury. However, he could make up part of a back three against France.
Poland predicted lineup vs France (3-4-1-2): Szczesny; Bednarek, Dawidowicz, Kiwior; Frankowski, Slisz, Moder, Zalewski; Zielinski; Swiderski, Lewandowski.
Despite scoring just one goal at Euro 2024, France should find life easier against Poland. Even without Mbappe, Les Bleus should put a shaky Polish defence under pressure as they chase top spot in Group D.
France have kept four consecutive clean sheets - including a slightly fortunate one against the Dutch - and should have no problems blunting a Polish forward line that lacks pace while flexing their creative muscles at the other end of the pitch.