🔬 The Debrief as Austria rise to the top and England underwhelm | OneFootball

Another set of EURO 2024 groups were concluded on Tuesday.

Here’s The Debrief of the action from day 12.

What happened? 📝

Tuesday began with a bang as Austria topped Group D after a 3-2 win over the Netherlands, while France had to settle for the runner-up spot following their 1-1 draw against Poland.

But things slowed in Group C as England’s 0-0 draw against Slovenia was enough to see both teams through, while Denmark also progressed after producing an identical score line with Serbia.

Player of the day 🔥

Austria have now reached back-to-back European Championship’s last-16 stages and Marcel Sabitzer has been key to their improbable Group D ascent.

It wasn’t just the Borussia Dortmund midfielder’s near-post finish which tipped the balance for Ralf Rangnick’s side against the Netherlands in Berlin.

Sabitzer was omnipresent on the Olympiastadion’s pitch and deserved his crowning moment in the 80th minute to send Das Team ahead of favourites France.

Moment of the day 😍

Slovenia’s stalemate with England will unlikely go down as a classic but it still came with a touching moment.

Josip Iličić made a substitute appearance for his country, which marked the culmination of a lengthy road to recovery.

The Maribor forward had faced two bouts of mental health issues that forced him to step back from the game he loved as recently as 2022.

Now 36, Iličić was handed a late cameo in Köln for his first appearance at this summer’s tournament to bring his journey full-circle.

Photo of the day 📸

There really is only one way to stop Kylian Mbappé and Nicola Zalewski has clearly been studying Gerard Piqué’s technique from a few years ago.

Stat of the day 📊

What this means 🤔

The last 16 sees Austria face the runner-up from Group F, which is currently Türkiye, while France’s second-place finish sees them set to take on current Group E runner-up Belgium.

England, meanwhile, will also have to wait until Wednesday to discover their opponents in the tournament’s last 16, where Group C rivals Denmark and Slovenia will also feature.

What they said 🗣️

Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk: “We lacked energy. We talked about it at halftime. This is incomprehensible at a finals tournament. I have no explanation for this at the moment. We all have to do a lot more for this is bad. If we want to achieve something at this European Championship, something has to change very quickly.”

Marcel Sabitzer on Austria’s unlikely win: “If you beat the Netherlands and win the group, then you can’t be that bad. For us, the most important thing was to advance, and we managed that. Now we need to calm down, clear our heads and then keep attacking. In football, things often happen quickly, you have ups and downs. I think that’s normal. The question is how you deal with it.”

France coach Didier Deschamps: “We have to accept it even if we did what we did by creating the chances. At least we’re qualified and we know when we’ll play. A new competition will start. We’re not going to live with regrets. We could have been more efficient, we were not able to double our advantage.”

What comes next? ⏭️

Another double-header of group finales awaits on Wednesday with Group E’s four sides separated only by goal difference.

Ukraine and Belgium will do battle in Stuttgart while Frankfurt plays host to Slovakia and Romania going head-to-head.

Things are a bit more settled in Group F, where an already-qualified Portugal meet Georgia while the Czech Republic and Türkiye face off.