Rest your best or go strong? Norway face questions as Haaland left out

It was billed as a World Cup Golden Boot showdown between Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. In the end Haaland started on the bench and it quickly turned into the Ousmane Dembele show after the Ballon d'Or winner hit a stunning 25-minute first-half hat-trick as France coasted to a 4-1 win at Boston Stadium. While France went with an array of attacking talent they hope will fire them to World Cup glory in New Jersey on 19 July, Norway decided this final group game was the right time to exclude Manchester City forward Haaland from the starting XI for the first time since 2024. It wasn't just Haaland though as Norway boss Stale Solbakken, with his side already through to the knockout stages, opted to make a whopping 10 changes. "A no-brainer," he said when asked why he decided to make so many changes. "Both my part and from the physio, health and medical department, and from some of the players themselves. "The only consideration was for the Norway fans. They would have wanted to see Erling and Martin [Odegaard] play. "We did a summary after the Senegal game and five or six players [were] very affected after 80 minutes. The entire defensive line and one or two midfielders." As a result of the changes, Dembele filled his boots after Mbappe struck the underside of the crossbar inside the opening minute. "If Erling Haaland needs a rest for the latter stages of the tournament he will take that," former England striker Ian Wright told ITV Sport before the game. …