Norway coach Stale Solbakken defended his decision to rest most of his first team after a heavy 4-1 defeat to France in their final Group I match at the FIFA World Cup on Saturday.
Norway made 10 changes to their usual starting line-up. Top scorer Erling Haaland and captain Martin Odegaard were among the players who started on the bench. France took full advantage, with Ousmane Dembele scoring a first half hat-trick.
Despite the result, Solbakken praised his players for their effort. He felt they created enough chances but made costly mistakes when they lost the ball.
“It goes very fast when we lose the ball a few times,” Solbakken said. “Offensively, we created chances throughout the whole game, so the boys should have credit for that. It was not only in the second half that we created chances, we created big chances.”
Norway also had a chance to reduce the gap early in the second half. But Jorgen Strand Larsen failed to score from the penalty spot as France goalkeeper Mike Maignan made the save.
“We had four big chances in the first half, so I think we deserve credit for it, but you can’t lose the ball in certain areas here, because it goes so fast the other way,” Solbakken said.
Norway finished second in Group I with six points, three behind France. They will now face Ivory Coast in the Round of 32 on June 30 in Dallas.
“We have a very heavy game against Ivory Coast and physically they are one of the best teams in the World Cup,” Solbakken told a press conference. “Our game is a 50-50 game and we have to be at our best.”
The coach said several players suffered cramp during the match against Senegal because of the hot and humid weather. That was the main reason behind resting so many key players against France.
“It was a no-brainer, both from my part and from the physios and some players themselves,” Solbakken said. “They all said that it would be difficult for many of them… we are here to progress as far as we can.
“Now it’s about charging up the batteries. The only argument for not doing what we did (resting 10 players) is that the fans around Norway and here could have seen Erling and (captain) Martin (Odegaard), but then it wouldn’t be a long World Cup, and that’s what we’re here for – we’re here to go as far as possible.”
