Norway shine on sunless day, storm into knockout stage

Amidst the stormy night in New Jersey, the Vikings truly arrived at the World Cup after 32 years as Norway clinched their spot in the knockout stage with a 3-2 win over Senegal. After taking the lead just before half-time, Erling Haaland’s second-half brace was all that was needed to push them over the edge.

For the Lions of Teranga, this loss made it two in two as they are now forced into a must-win game against Iraq to have a chance to qualify for the knockouts.

There wasn’t a sun in the sky along the Northeastern Seaboard, as Norway and Senegal kicked off their game at MetLife Stadium. Luckily, they were past the worst of the storm that had derailed the earlier game between France and Iraq. It was a quiet half for both teams, as they struggled to build a substantially dangerous attack.

Norway were the more threatening of the two teams, as Senegal seemed very meek in their build-up. Pape Thiawa’s men had one of the toughest two games in the World Cup group stages, as they had to face Mbappe’s France and Haaland’s Norway in back-to-back matches.

Yet if the first half of both games was any indication, they seemed equipped to deal with the attacking intensity of their opposition. Their struggles often came in finishing their own attempts, as two of their front three, Sadio Mane and Nicolas Jackson, just seemed so wasteful and complacent during their attacks.

Norway broke the deadlock just before halftime through Marcus Holmgren Pedersen, an early substitute for Julian Ryerson, who came off with an injury. While Pedersen was the one who struck the ball into the net, the goal would not have happened if not for Kalidou Koulibaly’s atrocious error in clearing the ball.

A pass from Norwegian midfielder Martin Odegaard that was searching for Haaland was instead intercepted by Koulibaly, who couldn’t get a good touch on the ball and left it for the incoming Pedersen. The substitute didn’t look at the gift horse in the mouth and took full advantage of the opportunity to put the Vikings ahead. The mistake from Koulibaly is just so shoddy from an experienced veteran, but it goes to show you how small the margin for error in a World Cup game truly is.

Maybe it was the error, maybe it was a teamtalk from Pape Thiaw, but the Senegal that came out of the dressing room for the second half was a completely different side. They were more precise in their passes and had a lot more patience in their buildup. Unfortunately for Senegal, they once again fell prey to individual quality, much like in their game against France. It’s tough to blame them when a 6-foot-5 Viking is always lurking in your backline, threatening to run down your players and unleash a one-man army at the smallest opportunity.

It didn’t take long after the second half whistle for Erling Braut Haaland to make his presence felt. Once again, it was Odegaard on the counterattack that provided the opportunity. And once again, it was Koulibaly who made another costly mistake. With Haaland running just alongside him, he slid in a hope to catch Odegaard’s pass, but he had clearly misjudged the timing of the pass. The ball skipped past him in front of Haaland, who only had to take one touch to see it in the back of the net.

Facing a 2-0 lead, Senegal didn’t back down, and they got their response in the 53rd minute through Ismaila Sarr. Receiving the ball centrally at the edge of the box, Mane gave it a little flick to place it in Sarr’s path, who took a touch before nudging the ball while falling down to score Senegal’s first. As Sarr ran back to the half-line, he raised his hands in an effort to rouse the Senegal fans in the stands. Unfortunately, it was the Norse that answered his call.

Haaland didn’t even give the Senegalese fans a chance to bask in their goal before scoring another to extend their lead to 3-1. This goal cannot be attributed to a Koulibaly mistake, although unsurprisingly, he was at the scene of the crime again. Haaland was unable to reach a cut-in behind from Pedersen that deflected off Koulibaly towards Norwegian midfielder Patrick Berg. Koulibaly attempted to redeem himself with another slide tackle that fell flat, which led to Berg playing the ball in for Haaland, who was never going to miss from that distance.

For Senegal, that was the final nail in the coffin. While they managed to cut the lead in injury time with another goal from Sarr, they were unable to complete the comeback. Senegal, who really did get the short end of the straw by drawing France and Norway in their opening matches, now have to win their final game against Iraq to have a chance at qualifying as one of the best third placed teams.

Koulibaly’s mistakes today aside, this Senegal team were unfortunate with their group, because the quality they have shown proves that they might have made it out of most of the other groups. What they have lacked is a clinical finishing touch in the final third, and perhaps Pape Thiaw should look at tinkering with his lineup before their final group game against Iraq.

The final group I game between France and Norway will be an interesting matchup as the winner will qualify as the leader of the group. It will also be the first international matchup between Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, two of the defining players of the new generation of footballers. The Vikings or Les Bleus? They both have all to play for as they face each other on June 26 at Gillette Stadium in Boston.