Norway

Norway are back at a World Cup for the first time since France 1998 — a 28-year wait, ended — and they arrived with arguably the most fearsome attack of any nation here: a front line of Antonio Nusa, Martin Ødegaard, Erling Braut Haaland, Alexander Sørloth and Oscar Bobb that one analyst flatly reckoned no other national team can match. They opened with a 4–1 win over Iraq, Haaland scoring twice.

A nation in fever

The homecoming has gripped Norway. TV 2's broadcast of the Iraq opener peaked at 1,476,000 viewers with a 97% audience share — the channel calling it football fever and a national togetherness 'never experienced before' (only the 1994 match against Mexico, 2.1m, has ever drawn more). For a country of 5.5 million, that is most of the nation watching at once.

'A World Cup of urine tests'

Norway are based in Greensboro, North Carolina, training in 30–32°C heat under a UV index of 10, and the camp's defining storyline is hydration. Coach Ståle Solbakken's instant-classic line: «Nå er det VM i pisseprøver» — 'Now it's a World Cup of urine tests.' Players are weighed before and after every session to calculate fluid loss, give daily urine samples, and take recovery gels before sleep, with Norway's Olympic Center (Olympiatoppen) guiding the heat plan. There has even been a debate about deliberately under-watering their own training pitch to mimic the dry, slow stadium surfaces.

Solbakken's riddle

Norway's tournament history is a paradox — imperious in qualifying, oddly passive at finals (1994, 1998, Euro 2000). Solbakken puts part of that old collapse down to mentality, and believes this side, able to keep the ball and attack rather than chase, can finally break the pattern. After the opener he handed the players two days off — 'they can train if they want, but if they want to play golf, they can' — and several scattered, some to New York, while Morten Thorsby and Torbjørn Heggem stayed back to golf.

The captain question

Captain Martin Ødegaard is the worry: an injury-plagued Arsenal spring meant he played just 6 of Norway's previous 17 matches, and he was quiet against Iraq (though he still completed 41 of 42 passes and laid on an assist). His team-mates roast his injury record mercilessly — Sander Berge: 'I don't know what Martin's up to. His 77th injury this year.' Solbakken is unmoved: 'He will start. I can promise you that.'

Haaland chasing history

Erling Braut Haaland's double against Iraq drew him level with Kjetil Rekdal's Norwegian World Cup goal record of six. 'I have to tell him I'm coming for that record,' Haaland grinned. See his page for the full story — the routines, the roots and the obsession.

Off the pitch

The build-up wasn't all sweat: a pre-departure Viking-costume photoshoot and a dinner by celebrity chef Eyvind Hellstrøm prompted Sørloth to wonder aloud whether the squad had 'gone a bit too far' before a ball had even been kicked. Solbakken called a halt to the festivities the moment they landed in the USA.

Through to the knockouts — now the France riddle

Norway followed the Iraq win with a nervy 3–2 over Senegal on Jun 22 — Erling Braut Haaland scoring twice — to reach the last 32 with a game to spare, level with France on six points atop Group I. The catch before the Jun 26 decider in Foxborough: a draw sends France through as group winners on goal difference (+5 to Norway's +4), so Norway must win to top the group. Solbakken has all but named a rotated side — «Det blir en del forandringer mot Frankrike» ('There'll be a fair few changes against France'), citing the short turnaround and 'five, six, seven men with cramp' late on against Senegal, with Julian Ryerson limping off after 11 minutes. NRK's Kristoffer Løkberg expects up to seven changes and reckons both Haaland and Mbappé start on the bench. The worry the Norwegian press keep circling: a defence that has now conceded three in two games (both Senegal goals from Ismaïla Sarr) about to face Kylian Mbappé.

Runners-up: Solbakken's gamble (Norway 1–4 France)

He wasn't bluffing. Solbakken made ten changes for the decider, resting both Haaland and Ødegaard entirely and handing four players World Cup debuts — and Norway were swept aside 1–4, Ousmane Dembélé scoring a first-half hat-trick inside 32 minutes. Thelo Aasgaard got Norway's goal; Jørgen Strand Larsen missed a second-half penalty (Maignan saving) that might have made a contest of it. The numbers were kinder than the scoreline — Norway actually out-xG'd France 1.69 to 1.31 — but France were ruthless and Norway wasteful, and the result sends them through as Group I runner-up. Solbakken was unrepentant: «Vi er ikke her for å pynte på ting. Vi er her for å komme så langt som mulig» ('We're not here to embellish things; we're here to get as far as possible'), pointing at the four-day turnaround to the last 32. The reward for finishing second: the southern road, opening against Ivory Coast in Dallas on June 30 — and, beyond it, a possible last-16 tie with Brazil or Japan. The full bracket is on Norway's Road to the Final. The lingering question is the one the press flagged before kickoff and the xG underlined after: a Norway defence that has now conceded seven in three group games must tighten fast, because the knockouts forgive nothing.