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FOXBOROUGH - An hour and a half before Friday’s World Cup match between France and Norway, the Vikings revealed a heavily rotated starting lineup.
Ståle Solbakken made 10 changes between the team’s lineup against Senegal last time out, and the one that fell 4-1 to France at Gillette Stadium.
Stars like Kristoffer Ajer, Erling Haaland, Martin Ødegaard, Antonio Nusa and Alexander Sørloth were left on the bench.
In response, the Norwegians in the stands started multiple chants asking for Haaland to get into the game. While Solbakken understands the frustration, he hopes the fans also see the long-term benefit for the team.
“Very good, they were very good,” Solbakken said of his fans. “Obviously they want to see Erling and they want to see Martin. That’s the only reason you could feel something about the way we lined up today.
“But hopefully because of that, we can give them some good summer nights in the next weeks.”
Ahead of the contest, France’s acting manager Guy Stephan knew that Solbakken resting players would be a possibility with Norway already securing a spot in the Round of 32.
“The Norway coach had two options,” Stephan said in French. “Either he could keep his squad more or less the same, perhaps making two or three minor adjustments, he preferred to make wholesale changes.
“He knew qualification was already secured so he really wanted to prepare for the Round of 32 match. He knew they would likely be facing Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast is a team that holds its own physically, and not just physically. I assume he felt it was the right move to make those changes. We’ll get the answer in four days.”
For Solbakken, the decision was partially about the strengths of his upcoming competition, and also the amount of rest Ivory Coast already had.
The Round of 32 matchup is set for Tuesday, June 30 in Texas. Ivory Coast’s two matches leading up to it were on June 20 and June 25.
Norway’s turnaround is a bit tighter, with matches on June 22 and 26 before Tuesday’s contest. By resting his starters against France, Solbakken hopes the two teams are now on more even footing in terms of fitness.
“We cancel out their one more rest day because they played yesterday, we should now be on equal terms in terms of the physicality which I see is one of their biggest strengths,” Solbakken said. “We do take that into consideration, that we had the shortest space between the two games now.
“Between the Senegal game and this and two plane trips and change of hotel etcetera. Taking all that into consideration with one less rest day for us was part of why we did what we did today.”
With Ivory Coast, Norway is also looking at one of the most physically taxing teams in the World Cup, adding another factor into his rest equation.
“We have a heavy game against the Ivory Coast, I think they are a very good team and physically they are one of the best teams in the tournament,” Solbakken said. “We have seen that against Ecuador and Germany... I think the game is like against Senegal, a very 50/50 game so we need to be at our best so we can get that game.”
While he recognizes that Tuesday’s contest will be a challenge, Solbakken isn’t counting out his side either, and he’s banking on extra freshness being an advantage Norway can take.
“I think they are a good mix in the midfield three,” Solbakken said of Ivory Coast. “I think they have two good wingers, a striker that can both keep the ball up and go behind and obviously the two power houses they have at center defenders are very good.
“The team is very good but we are also a good team when we play up to our best.”
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