No Foxborough duel as Norway was content to let superstar France show just some of what it’s capable of
FOXBOROUGH — Coach Stale Solbakken believed Norway had much to learn about managing the World Cup; who better to take lessons from than France? Les Bleus were in a teaching mood as they took a 4-1 victory over the Landslaget in what turned out to be a glorified workout on Friday afternoon.
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First lesson — put out your usual starters, which France did, missing only injured center back William Saliba. And, actually, that’s all there was to it. Assistant coach Guy Stéphan simply made out the lineup card, which included some of the best forwards and wingers in the game, and let them do their thing. The next thing Stéphan and a crowd of 64,146 knew, a seventh-minute Ousmane Dembélé score set the tone, allowing Les Bleus to pace themselves and start thinking about their Round of 32 match.
Going all-out early worked. They chalked up a third successive win without having to extend themselves. Dembélé recorded a hat trick and Désiré Doué scored his first World Cup goal. And, the result allowed Les Bleus to stay near their Boston home — they will shuttle to New Jersey for a second-round match on Tuesday. Plus, Stéphan noted, there was an added bonus — more family time.
When France chose its base in January, it factored in flights to Logan Airport. It would be an hour closer than New York to Paris and, probably, less complications and hassle.
“We’ve been doing this for our third match,” Stéphan said of flying in family. “It’s important. They spend time with wives, children, sometimes parents, grandchildren where I’m concerned. It’s a nice moment. They will be at our training session tomorrow [at Bentley University]. It’s a new lease on life and gives us oxygen.”
No arguing Stéphan and France head coach Didier Deschamps, who missed the game to attend his mother’s funeral, have made the right plans so far.
Solbakken, though, chose to rest nearly his entire starting lineup, including stars Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard. It was a recipe for disaster, but the choice could pay off in the long run.
Sure, Norway must travel to Dallas for a 1 p.m. Tuesday match against Ivory Coast. But, maybe, the extra rest will help Haaland, Ødegaard, and the four Norwegian players who cramped up during a 3-2 win over Senegal.
“[Fans] want to see Erling and Martin and, hopefully, we can give them some good summer nights in the next weeks,” Solbakken said. “We have given them a couple victories, and we will give them the opportunity to watch more games. We don’t need to be the naïve country, playing for fun. We want to play as long as possible. I need to make the decisions, and it was a no-brainer. I have no doubts.”
That meant depriving the game of becoming a duel between Haaland and Kylian Mbappé, and also a wingers’ showcase. Norway’s Antonio Nusa came on in the 83rd minute, too late to show his stuff against French wingers Dembélé, Doué, and substitutes Bradley Barcola and Rayan Cherki.
Whether Solbakken’s rest-them-up choice was right or wrong, few teams could overhaul the starting lineup and get away with it. France is probably the only one that could do so. No European country is producing talent on the scale of France, which has more than 100 players in the World Cup.
“We probably could have scored a few more goals,” Stéphan said, “but we already scored four.”
Actually, if the French didn’t know they had this game in the bag before kickoff, they received confirmation 20 seconds in, when Mbappé’s shot was deflected by Egil Selvik off the under side of the bar. Les Bleus attacked like a super-charged offensive team, and would have made it difficult for Norway’s first-teamers.
But they did prove to be human, letting down, becoming lazy, and slipping up defensively according to Stéphan.
“If you want to be on the perfectionist side, sometimes things get easy, and we don’t run as much, and we end up giving opportunities to opponents,” Stéphan said, “We need to work on that, because, as we progress, opponents are going to be — I’m not saying Norway is not a quality opponent, but they didn’t have their ‘A’ team.
“I am not worried. We have a great team. It sparkles and it can shine, with a lot of dribbling, one-twos, and, of course, what happens then, sometimes it becomes unbalanced. And you need to compensate for it. We need to find a balance. [But] there was a lot of action and I thought the players really enjoyed playing.”
Stéphan said Deschamps will return for practice Saturday.
“As far as I am concerned, I am satisfied I completed my duty,” Stéphan said. “[Saturday] we re-start our duo and prepare for matches that will be more challenging.”
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