{"id":3670,"date":"2026-06-26T23:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T23:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3670"},"modified":"2026-06-26T23:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T23:34:10","slug":"norway-pulls-its-starters-treats-fans-to-an-exhibition-match-in-loss-to-france-in-group-i-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3670","title":{"rendered":"Norway pulls its starters, treats fans to an exhibition match in loss to France in Group I finale"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FOXBOROUGH \u2014 A sellout crowd of 64,146 paid hundreds if not thousands of dollars to watch one of the best showdowns of the entire tournament\u2019s group play \u2013 France vs. Norway.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A World Cup powerhouse vs. an up-and-comer. Two superstar strikers, France\u2019s Kylian Mbappe vs. Norway\u2019s Erling Haaland. Two teams that began the tournament 2-0 and were fighting Friday for the Group I title.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the five World Cup group matches in Foxborough, this was the most expensive ticket and, on paper, the most exciting matchup.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Instead, fans were treated to Week 18 of the NFL season.<\/span><\/p>\n

France did its part, playing its normal lineup and cruising to a 4-1 win. But Norway brought tanking to the 2026 World Cup. Content to finish second in Group I and face Ivory Coast in the Round of 32, Norway sat Haaland, Arsenal midfielder Martin \u00d8degaard, and 10 of its 11 starters overall, including goalie \u00d8rjan Nyland.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to proceed as long as we can,\u201d said Norway manager St\u00e5le Solbakken. \u201cThis was not a decision that took us a lot of time to get to.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s \u201cB\u201d team showed a little feistiness and scored an impressive goal in the 21st minute by midfielder Thelo Aasgaard, but the end result was predictable \u2014 a dominant win by France, the two-time World Cup champs (2018, 1998) and 2022 runners-up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Solbakken said it was a \u201cno brainer\u2019 to bench his starters. He said the team\u2019s medical staff highlighted five players who were exhausted after Norway\u2019s second match of the tournament last week against Senegal, and the goal was to be at their best for Tuesday against Ivory Coast, not win Group I. <\/span><\/p>\n

Solbakken didn\u2019t apologize to Norwegian fans who spent thousands of kroner to attend the match in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the way it is,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have given them a couple of victories and we have given them the opportunity to watch more games, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re here to do at the World Cup.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Paris Saint-Germain star Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 notched a hat trick in the first half, scoring in the seventh, 20th and 32nd minutes, with Mbapp\u00e9 assisting on the first two. Dembele\u2019s hat trick was the 57th in World Cup history and the fastest since Austria\u2019s Erich Probst completed one in 24 minutes in 1954.<\/span><\/p>\n

Midfielder D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9, another PSG star, completed the scoring with a header four minutes into second-half stoppage time.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

France, which has trained at Bentley University in Waltham throughout the tournament, wrapped up group play with a 3-0 record and 9 points. It will face a third-place team Tuesday (potentially Sweden) in New York in the Round of 32.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This year marks Norway\u2019s first World Cup appearance since 1998, and will be the first time advancing to knockout play since then as well. Haaland, who scored four goals in Norway\u2019s first two matches, including two last week in Foxborough, said after picking up its second win that Norway\u2019s mission in group play was complete. He didn\u2019t care about beating France and finishing first.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe managed to get through, which is incredible, so I couldn\u2019t care too much about that game now,\u201d Haaland said.<\/span><\/p>\n

France wasn\u2019t sure if Haaland was joking, but apparently he was serious. Scores of Norwegian fans wore blonde Haaland wigs and Vikings helmets and participated in their famous \u201cRow\u201d cheer, but Haaland didn\u2019t so much as poke his head out of the dugout throughout the match.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to OptaStats, Norway became just the fourth team in World Cup history to swap out 10-plus starters for a match. Resting starters didn\u2019t work out too well for Spain in 2006 (lost in round of 16) or Brazil in 2022 (lost in quarterfinals), but did seem to benefit Belgium in 2018 (third place).<\/span><\/p>\n

Solbakken and his players apparently didn\u2019t mind that their World Cup road is now tougher as a second-place finisher. Training in Greensboro, N.C., Norway would have played a third-place team in New York with a win Friday. Instead, Norway will travel to Dallas to face Ivory Coast, which won two matches in Group E. <\/span><\/p>\n

The road is difficult in the knockout round either way. A win Friday would have put Norway in line for a matchup with Germany in Round of 16. Instead, they line up with Brazil. But French assistant manager Guy St\u00e9phan said one reason France opted to play its starters was because of travel logistics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted the first spot in this group,\u201d said St\u00e9phan, who subbed for Didier Deschamps, who was away after the death of his mother. \u201cA 45-minute flight is better than 3-4 hours to Dallas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After blitzing Norway with three goals and 14 shots in the first half, France dialed it back as well, with just four shots in the second half. Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 subbed out in the 65th minute and Mbapp\u00e9 in the 87th, finishing with a game-high four shots.<\/span><\/p>\n

France goalie Mike Maignan still was impressive despite not facing Norway\u2019s best. Maignan finished with three saves, including a diving stop of a penalty kick in the 50th minute off the foot of Jorgen Strand Larsen, and another diving stop in the 73rd minute.<\/span><\/p>\n

The exhibition-like vibe of the match didn\u2019t quell the enthusiasm of thousands of French supporters, who danced and chanted \u201cAllez les Bleus!\u201d throughout the match and made a few attempts at The Wave.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a great day with a lot of goals and a lot of action,\u201d St\u00e9phan said. \u201cWe probably could have scored a bit more goals, but we already scored four.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Norway-France had shaped up as the best World Cup group match, but instead fans got Week 18 of the NFL season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"\nNorway pulls its starters, treats fans to an exhibition match in loss to France in Group I finale - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3670\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Norway pulls its starters, treats fans to an exhibition match in loss to France in Group I finale - 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