France didn’t undergo from any World Cup hangover as they blew away the woeful Netherlands 4-0 in a one-sided opening Group B qualifier for Euro 2024.New captain Kylian Mbappe was on track twice in Les Bleus’ first sport because the heartbreak of dropping the ultimate on penalties to Argentina after an exciting comeback in Qatar three months in the past, along with his facet producing a devastating early 21-minute objective blitz in opposition to an injury-ravaged Dutch staff in Paris to make an emphatic begin on the street to Germany.Antoine Griezmann swept dwelling France’s quickest objective since 2006 after just one minute and 55 seconds having been teed up completely by Mbappe, swiftly placing to mattress stories of any rift between the pair after Mbappe was lately appointed as his nation’s newest skipper by head coach Didier Deschamps to interchange the retired Hugo Lloris.Lloris was honoured forward of kick-off together with fellow worldwide retirees Raphael Varane, Blaise Matuidi and Steve Mandanda, with Karim Benzema having reportedly turned down an invite to the ceremony. There was additionally a minute’s applause to recollect late France icon and scorer of essentially the most targets ever at a single World Cup in Simply Fontaine, who sadly died earlier this month on the age of 89.Relentless Les Bleus had been desirous to pay tribute to certainly one of their most well-known gamers as they went 2-0 up inside simply eight minutes, a harmful free-kick from the pink-haired Griezmann bouncing in off Bayern Munich defender Dayot Upamecano after Netherlands goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen had been caught in no man’s land.Learn MoreTwo grew to become three simply 13 minutes later when Mbappe began an assault and raced into the field to gather Aurelien Tchouameni’s advantageous low move through an professional dummy from Randal Kolo Muani, chosen forward of file scorer Olivier Giroud to steer the assault, then coolly wrong-footing Cillessen at his close to submit.France needed to wait a very long time for his or her fourth, with substitute Moussa Diaby seeing an achieved end dominated out for offside earlier than Mbappe accomplished his brace late on, weaving this manner and that and sitting down each Jurrien Timber and Daley Blind – on for his one hundredth Netherlands cap that may shortly be forgotten – earlier than masterfully choosing out the underside nook.His thirty eighth objective in solely 67 caps noticed him transfer away from Ballon d’Or holder Benzema as France’s outright fifth-highest scorer of all time aged 24, with solely Michel Platini, Griezmann, Thierry Henry and Giroud now sitting forward of the Paris Saint-Germain famous person within the scoring charts.A wretched opening to Ronald Koeman’s second reign because the Dutch nationwide coach was accomplished within the closing seconds, when Memphis Depay had a tame penalty thwarted by Lloris’ inheritor obvious Mike Maignan after Upamecano was unable to maneuver his hand away from a Wout Weghorst header contained in the field.France can be bursting with confidence as they head to Dublin subsequent to face the Republic of Eire on Monday night time, whereas the Netherlands – who had been already beset by accidents earlier than seeing 5 gamers withdraw with a virus on the eve of this sport – can be heavy favourites to bounce again in opposition to Group B minnows Gibraltar in Rotterdam.