France coach hopeful star Kylian Mbappé can face Netherlands

LEIPZIG, Germany --  France coach Didier Deschamps said he assumes Kylian Mbappé will be available for the Euro 2024 game against the Netherlands on Friday.

"Everything is going well, after the shock we had. He was able to take part in some light exercises yesterday, and that will be the same this evening. Everything is evolving in the right direction," Deschamps said Thursday. "We'll do all we can to ensure that he'll be available tomorrow."

Mbappé broke his nose in France's opening 1-0 win over Austria on Monday when his face collided with Austria defender Kevin Danso's shoulder. Blood stained his white France jersey. If he plays, he'll need to wear a mask.

Mbappé trained wearing a blue, white and red face mask with the rest of his teammates on Thursday.

He spent some time fidgeting with his new headgear before he joined his teammates in running exercises. He lifted it up to speak to Olivier Giroud, then put it back on again as he stretched between Giroud and Antoine Griezmann.

"Kylian will be wearing a mask," Deschamps confirmed to journalists. "We don't need to know the details of this mask. I think you have enough moles to know where the mask is coming from."

Mbappé returned to light training on Wednesday and was expected to continue preparations on Thursday.

The Netherlands also won their opening game, coming from behind to beat Poland 2-1.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.