Will Booth 
Euro 2024 Group D Preview. Design: Round Ball Australia
At a brief glance, Group D looks like a seemingly straightforward group with two clear favourites who will be expected to advance in France and the Netherlands, however Austria and Poland present challenges in their own right and the favourites are in no way guaranteed passage through.
The matchup between Netherlands and France is an exciting one and the winner of that match will be hopeful in their chances of topping the group.
A close battle for third looks likely in a group that will not have a dull fixture across the three match days.
It is not a wild statement to say that the winner of the tournament could come from Group D, with France touted among the overall favourites for the competition, but the Dutch will also fancy their chances at reaching the latter stages and making a run at the trophy.
France
FIFA World Ranking: 2nd
Best Euros Finish: 2x Champions (1984, 2000)
France dominated their qualifying group with an impressive seven wins and one draw as they finished top, conceding just three goals along the way.
That qualifying campaign saw two wins over Group D rivals in the Netherlands, which will fill them with confidence as they take on each other in match 20 of the tournament.
Greece put an end to France’s flawless qualifying campaign, holding the group favourites to a 2-2 draw on the last match day in the group.
Kylian Mbappe finished miles in front at the top of the group goal scoring charts, leading the way with nine goals in his eight matches.
Squad profile
As has been the case so often in the last few international tournaments they have been at, France will bring one of the strongest squads on paper to compete as they look to do one better than their 2022 World Cup effort which saw them lose the final to Argentina on penalties.
Kylian Mbappe still remains one of the top talents in the world, scoring goals for fun regardless of the opponent.
For France, we see him in his preferred role out wide, with Giroud being the focal point over the past few years, but this may be the tournament where we see a change at striker.
Marcus Thuram comes into the tournament off the back of a scintillating first season with Inter Milan, netting 13 times and providing 13 assists as the club raced away to the title.
Going off form and minutes in the legs at club level, he is deserving of the starting striker role and may be given the chance to make his claim across the first couple of group games.
Olivier Giroud will be waiting closely in the wings and ready to slot into the role in which he has excelled at over recent years.
N’Golo Kante makes a somewhat shock return to the national team, and although he is playing in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ittihad, has slotted seamlessly back into the side in the pre-tournament friendlies.
Antoine Griezmann appears to be the other lock in the midfield role alongside Kante, who has enjoyed recent success for the national team in a free moving creative role.
Didier Deschamps leads Les Bleus into the 2024 Euros in his 12th year of management, taking charge after Euro 2012 with Laurent Blanc resigning.
Under his tenure, the team have enjoyed plenty of success in tournaments, winning the 2018 World Cup and only just losing out in the 2022 edition to Argentina on penalties.
Deschamps brings a squad that has arguably the most depth in every position, which can sometimes cause headaches as it becomes a tougher task to put together a clear starting eleven for a side.
Expectations
France’s Euros performances have been on the lean side in the last few renditions, with their only foray past the quarter finals since 2000, coming in their home tournament back in 2016.
The most recent Euros saw them upset at the hands of Switzerland, in a game where they held a 3-1 lead with only 15 minutes of the match remaining.
A slip-up late into the game saw Switzerland push them into extra time and penalties, where the Swiss would come away victorious in a shock result for the French.
France come into this tournament with clear pedigree, anything less than a semi-finals appearance would be a disaster for such a supremely talented squad.
They have the capabilities to beat anybody in this tournament on their day, however they also are prone to a meltdown.
If they top this group, they will have a somewhat straightforward run into the deeper stages, but complacency must not be allowed to seep in at any point.
Netherlands
FIFA World Ranking: 7th
Best Euros Finish: Champions (1988)
The Netherlands finished second in Group B of the qualifiers, with their only losses coming at the hands of France.
As the two face off again in Group D, the Oranje will have to take the lessons learned from those previous encounters if they are to mount a challenge for top spot of the group.
The Netherlands left it until the last match day of the qualifiers to secure direct entry into the tournament, with a scrappy 1-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland being just enough to maintain the gap to third-placed Greece.
Squad profile
Over the course of the eight qualifying matches only 17 goals were scored by the Dutch, which included two fixtures against a Gibraltar side that shipped 14 to France in a single match.
As has been evident since Robin Van Persie’s international retirement, the national team has faced a shortage of firepower up front.
Three players scored just three goals each throughout the qualifiers: Cody Gakpo, Wout Weghorst and Calvin Stengs, and with Stengs being left out of the official squad for the tournament it remains to be seen where the goals will come from.
Ronald Koeman will lead the Netherlands into the tournament in his second stint in-charge, after a previous spell between 2018 and 2020.
His record with the national side still leaves a lot to be desired, with the country not enjoying much success since their strong World Cup performances in 2010 and 2014.
His tactics and squad selection practices have often been cause for criticism over the years, but with this squad he has put his tiffs with players to bed and made inclusions based on club form above all else.
Memphis Depay will be key as the squad’s creator even though he will be leading the line up top for the Dutch.
He is often found dropping deep and using his skillset as a play maker to start attacks for a team who will look to hit quickly and efficiently, possessing lots of speed in the front third.
Xavi Simons lit up the Bundesliga last season with Leipzig and will look to carry that form into this tournament, as he seems to have locked down a starting place on the right for the Dutch.
An exciting yet raw player in some respects, his unpredictability will be key if the Netherlands are to go deep this Euros.
Virgil van Dijk has been a rock for the Dutch, chipping in with important goals to go along with his calming presence at the heart of the defence.
He is exactly the type of captain you want in your side, leading from the back and will be instrumental in anything Holland achieves.
With the midfield trio of Frenkie de Jong, Martin de Roon, and Teun Koopmeiners all missing out on the tournament through injuries, the centre of the park certainly appears to be the weakest area for the Dutch.
All three were probably expected to be starting for Koeman’s side, who will instead have to rely upon players that are largely unproven at the international level, led by an aging Georginio Wijnaldum who now plies his trade in Saudi Arabia.
Expectations
The squad will be expected to make it out of the group alongside France and would go on to face the second placed side from Group E, which would likely be one of Ukraine, Romania, and Slovakia.
In this match up the Dutch would be considered favourites to progress, however the quarter finals present a tougher challenge, as to be expected.
Portugal is on their side of the draw in the quarters and would be one of the likelier teams that the Netherlands would face in this scenario.
Bowing out at this point would not be seen as a disappointment for the side and would be roughly par for the course, with the result not likely to cause too much uproar amongst the fans and nation.
With injuries to the side forcing some tactical shuffles from Koeman, a quarter finals appearance seems like the benchmark, with key areas of his squad being depleted by players that have been the backbone of the team over the last few international tournaments.
Poland
FIFA World Ranking: 28th
Best Euros Finish: Quarter finals (2016)
Poland found themselves qualifying for the tournament through the playoffs after finishing third in their group, with Albania and Czechia above them.
In the playoffs they were drawn into Path A due to their Nations League ranking, which saw them come up against Estonia in their first knockout game.
An early red card for Estonia meant plain sailing for the Polish, who went on to comfortably advance as 5-1 winners. Their final barrier into the Euros was Wales, with the game remaining scoreless through regular and extra time.
Poland were the winners via penalty shootout, with Szczesny saving Dan James’ penalty to triumph 5-4.
Squad profile
Michal Probierz is a recent appointment, coming to the helm in late 2023 following Fernando Santos’ dismissal from the side.
Probierz saw Poland successfully qualify for the tournament in good form, as his side comes in without defeat in eight games.
The squad is captained by talisman Robert Lewandowski, who unfortunately picked up an injury in the final friendly against Turkey.
He is said to be missing Poland’s first match against the Netherlands, but staff remain hopeful of a return against Austria in the second match day.
Without Lewandowski it must be said that expectations have been drastically lowered, as he is possibly the greatest player the country has ever produced, leading the national team in both goals and appearances.
There are a few other notable players capable of stepping up into the role of leader in the squad through Lewandowski’s absence, with one being Piotr Zielinski of Napoli.
Playing the majority of Napoli’s minutes last season, he has become an underrated member of the national team in recent years with consistent performances across his 90 appearances.
Jakub Kiwior represents a talented younger cohort in the side, who enjoyed a breakout season with Arsenal in the Premier League and will look to slot into Probierz’s back three in defence.
Another stalwart and integral part of the side is goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who has become a mainstay in a strong Juventus side. He will be key if Poland are to upset France and the Netherlands and progress through the group stages.
Expectations
With Lewandowski’s injury, expectations have been tempered somewhat although there remains hope in qualifying through the group as one of the tournament’s lucky losers by finishing third.
Their match against Austria is a must win, and the side has enough talent to take a point off of France or the Netherlands if they play to their potential.
If they can take the lead early against one of those sides, they will be stubborn and tough to break down.
Finishing third needs to be Poland’s minimum aim and if other puzzle pieces fall into place, then this may be enough to see them into the knockout stages of the tournament, which would be a strong showing considering their opponents in the group.
Austria
FIFA World Ranking: 25th
Best finish: Round of 16 (2020)
Austria automatically qualified through Group F in second place and one point behind Belgium, who their only loss came at the hands of.
Austria come into their fourth Euros tournament with plenty of promising signs under the tutelage of Ralf Rangnick and shouldn’t be viewed as an easy three points by any of the other Group D sides.
Squad profile
The biggest headline coming into the tournament for Austria is the omission of star talent David Alaba, who misses out due to a cruciate ligament injury that saw him miss most of the season for Real Madrid.
So often the man to step up on the international stage, Austria will certainly miss Alaba’s versatility and impact all over the park, however the talent is there to at least attempt to fill the void left behind.
Amongst a strong cohort of talent plying their trade across various top leagues in Europe, Konrad Laimer will have to step up and play an important role in Austria’s midfield where David Alaba often excelled for his country.
He is joined by exciting attacker Christoph Baumgartner as one of the stronger players that find themselves in the Bundesliga, with Baumgartner establishing himself in Leipzig’s starting lineup over the past year.
He has already excelled in the friendlies against Switzerland and Serbia and looks set to play a key attacking role in the team.
Marko Arnautovic is a player that has impressed in previous tournaments and representing his country is perhaps the platform where he best made a name for himself.
He has been able to extract the most out of a game when given limited opportunity, which will come in handy as Austria come in as underdogs in this group.
Playing a key role coming off the bench for Inter last season, he was still able to impact games late on and the leading Austrian appearance maker could play a similar role for his national team throughout the tournament.
Since Ralf Rangnick’s appointment, Austria’s form as been steadily building and the team has transitioned into a well drilled and organised outfit.
Expectations
Similar to Poland, Austria’s hope should lie in the lucky loser bracket as the Netherlands and France should prove too strong to expect to take much away from either game.
Third place is a realistic aim in this group, and Austria do come off the back of an impressive 2020 Euro campaign that saw them take Italy to extra time in the round of 16, so the experience is there if they are to progress from the group.