It’s always dangerous to assume anything about what lies ahead in a major tournament but Norway vs Senegal feels like Group I’s decisive fixture at the
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It’s easy to normalise Haaland’s freakish numbers. Just to be clear, his World Cup goalscoring record is two goals per game. That’s from the smallest possible sample size, sure, but he plundered 16 to get Norway there in the first place.
Haaland’s brace against Iraq set his team on the path to a first win in North America. A second against either Senegal or France would make it the country’s most successful global tournament in terms of wins.
Norway made it out of the group when they last appeared at the World Cup in 1998, when Solbakken was a member of the playing squad, but only picked up one win.
Ibrahim Mbaye’s stoppage-time goal was a short-lived oasis for Senegal in a difficult opener against France. They kept the 2018 winners more or less at arm’s length for three-quarters of the match but suffered the expected defeat as Kylian Mbappe stepped up.
Senegal’s World Cup starts here because it has to. Against Norway, Pape Thiaw’s team face a serious challenge to their knock-out round dreams.
The only previous meeting between Norway and Senegal was in a friendly 20 years ago. Senegal claimed a 2-1 win in Dakar – they’d snap your hand off for the same again at the World Cup.
Norway vs Senegal: Group I
FourFourTwo’s prediction
Norway 2-1 Senegal
FourFourTwo predicts a match that’s otherwise close to call but settled by you-know-who. Cue more ‘viking row’ celebrations in the crowd.
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