Haaland rested – Erling Haaland and much of Norway’s starting lineup were kept on the bench for the group finale against France, and the gamble didn’t pay off as France scored early and cruised to a 4-1 victory. Norway had already advanced, and coach Ståle Solbakken framed the
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The first minute set the tone before Norway even got a real chance to test itself with its most recognizable goal threat on the pitch.
Kylian Mbappé struck and the ball banged off the crossbar, signaling France’s intent immediately. Six minutes later, Ousmane Dembélé scored with relative ease, and then his second goal of the match—an outswinging left-footed curler from the top of the box—put France up 2-0 in the 20th minute.
By then, the bigger story had already been written by Norway’s lineup. With the group finalized and Norway having secured its place in the knockout stage. coach Ståle Solbakken opted to trot out the “B Team.” All but one of the starters from Norway’s 3-2 win over Senegal four days earlier began the match on the bench. including Erling Haaland.
The game ended 4-1 for France, a result that sparked the obvious question: if Norway was already qualified, why not at least chase the higher finish that could come with winning the group?
Solbakken didn’t dodge the criticism. “We must not be the country that comes here and plays dumb,” he said. “So we are here to go as far as possible. And then we have to make the decisions – or I have to make the decisions – that I think are right for us to go as far as possible. But, of course, I feel a little bit (badly) about it.”.
The decision mattered even more because, on paper, the matchup was tailor-made for the kind of headline stadium crowds crave: “Haaland vs. Mbappé.” With two of the sport’s most prolific strikers available, fans were denied that direct duel when Norway chose rest over risk.
Norway’s logic, however, rested on a specific kind of tournament math—and on the belief the choice could be justified if circumstances were unusual.
France’s defense, for instance, carried a visible challenge. Defender William Saliba, a 6-foot-4 presence in the back, was out with injury. That gave weight to the idea that France might not have been facing Norway at full strength, and that a more even contest was at least possible.
Still, France’s players made clear they didn’t view any of it as anything less than control. “I would (be lying) if I said that I wasn’t a little bit surprised for sure. but at the end of the day. we just adapt. no matter which player we have in front of us. we always try to do our best and win. ” France defender Jules Koundé said. “We wanted to finish first in the table and that’s what we did. So pretty happy about it.”.
A pattern emerged quickly: Norway began threatening to pull the score closer, but France kept finding the next strike.
At one point in the first half, the match was 2-1 when Norway pushed for an equalizer. Then came the response—almost immediate. Dembélé mirrored his second goal with another brilliant left-footed strike, this one inside the box, to make it a two-goal game once more.
The second half brought another moment where Norway could have shifted the match’s shape. Early in the half, Norway earned a prime opportunity to make it a one-score game. French keeper Mike Maignan stopped Jørgen Strand Larsen’s penalty attempt and kept France in command at 3-1.
It wasn’t simply that the penalty failed. The criticism lingered because the match structure meant the lineup decision made Haaland the obvious choice to step up. Debating whether Haaland would have scored misses the point—Norway chose not to put him in a position to take it.
That frustration turned into noise in the stadium. During the 67th minute, fans on the south side of Gillette Stadium started chanting for Haaland.
Solbakken acknowledged that emotion, but insisted his decisions wouldn’t be driven by it. “They want to see Erling. they want to see Martin (Ødegaard). so that’s the only reason that you can feel something about the way we lined up today. ” he said. “But hopefully because of that, we can give them some good summer nights in the next weeks.”.
The explanations behind the rest plan were straightforward: health concerns and the risk of card accumulation.
Haaland hadn’t been booked yet in the tournament and appeared healthy enough in Norway’s first two matches, where he scored twice in each. In qualifying, he scored 16 times across the team’s eight qualifying matches, and the 25-year-old is described as essentially good for “a pair a game.”
Solbakken also cited schedule and travel differences. He pointed to Ivory Coast having an extra day of rest when the two teams meet in the round of 32, and Norway having an extra plane ride on top of changing hotels.
For France, though, the stakes of the group win were answered on the field. France’s stars were on the pitch, and they won.
France’s confidence was reinforced by a wider belief among players about where the tournament’s title should land. With Didier Deschamps home in France mourning the loss of his mother. the team was managed by his longtime assistant. Guy Stephan. The change didn’t appear to disrupt anything on the pitch.
Norway midfielder Marcus Holmgren Pedersen described the tournament focus after the loss: “Of course, now we are more focused on the knockout stage. We need to be fit and have good energy. So that’s the main target.”
Patrick Berg framed the rest strategy as something that still delivered value. He called it a “win-win situation” with rest for the main players and a deserved opportunity for those who had been training with the national team for an entire cycle.
Berg also said, “We tried our best to win the game. In the end, France is a top, top team and they deserved the win and deserved to be on top of the group.”
Those comments land against the backdrop of Berg’s earlier view of France as the clear standard-bearer for the tournament. “I think they are one of the clear favorites, yeah, no doubt about it,” he said. “They have a really strong team – not only the 11 that start the game. but also the subs that come on are top international players. So yeah, they look really strong and see themselves as big favorites. They’re here to compete and here to win the tournament.”.
Norway had a chance to make France’s favorites look less inevitable in a direct, high-profile way—and chose not to.
One match can’t rewrite the entire tournament, but it can define how it feels. Norway advanced, but the group finale became a statement of power from France rather than the promised duel between Haaland and Mbappé.
France march on as prohibitive favorites, and Norway will now chase the version of their tournament that matters most: keeping energy for the knockout stage.
Erling Haaland France vs Norway Kylian Mbappé Ousmane Dembélé Ståle Solbakken World Cup Gillette Stadium Mike Maignan Jørgen Strand Larsen Mike Maignan penalty save