France vs Greece

A battle for a top place in Euro 2024 qualifying Group B is on as France and Greece lock horns at the Stade de France.

France comfortably secured a 3-0 victory against Gibraltar in their latest European Championship qualifying match, maintaining a 100% to their Group B journey following a brace of wins over the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland. Yet to concede a single goal in the current qualifying campaign, ‘Les Bleus’ have already laid the groundwork for a ninth consecutive appearance at the Euro finals. But an evenly-balanced H2H record against Greece (W1, L1) suggests Didier Deschamps’ team cannot take anything for granted, even though they haven’t lost a Euro qualifier on home soil since 2010 (W8, D2), most recently hammering the Netherlands 4-0 in March. But all competitions included, they’ve recorded partial success in their last four home outings (W2, L2), with three of those results (wins/losses) seeing the winner keep a clean sheet.

In the meantime, Greece’s start to the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign has been a resounding success. Indeed, they’ve won both opening Group B matches by an aggregate score of 5-1 after breaking the deadlock within the opening 15 minutes of play. But they can’t afford to get complacent if they’re to get their bid to qualify for the Euro finals for the first time since 2012 over the line. Those victories form part of Greece’s encouraging six-game form (W3, D2, L1), injecting confidence in the visiting side ahead of this mammoth task. With five of those matches featuring over 2.5 goals, a high-scoring theme could be in store, though it may not benefit Gus Poyet’s team. Before a landslide 3-0 victory over Gibraltar on their most recent travel, Greece hadn’t win any of their three previous away games that produced 3+ total goals (D1, L2).