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Haaland sat on the bench wrapped in his training jacket, while Mbappé stretched on the turf. Messi had already run ahead with five goals, while the two players with four goals each shared the same pitch—one waiting to be called, the other finding his touch. At Gillette Stadium in Boston, at 3 a.m. on June 27, the Group I top spot showdown. Though called a showdown, it was really a math exam calculated down to the bone.
Haaland wrapped in a training jacket on the bench, Mbappé stretching on the grass. Messi has already run ahead with 5 goals, while the two players, each with 4 goals, share the same pitch—one waiting to be called, the other finding his touch. At Gillette Stadium in Boston, 3:00 AM on June 27, the Group I top-of-the-table decider. Calling it a decider is really a math exam down to the bone.
Four days earlier, Senegal winger Ismaïla Sarr smashed one in at the 93rd minute of stoppage time. Norway was leading 3-1 at the time, the game already in garbage time—this goal was purely a consolation prize to save face. But that shot nailed Norway’s goal difference, which had briefly surged to +5 in the second round, firmly at +4. The ledger opens: when Sarr pulled one back at the 53rd minute, no one took it seriously, since Senegal was already eliminated with two losses; at 90+3 minutes, he added another, turning the score from 3-1 to 3-2, and Norway lost a goal difference out of thin air. France’s first two games were 3-1 and 3-0, with a goal difference of +5. That single goal gap was fatal for Norway. A draw would secure the top spot for France; Norway had to win. A Senegalese player from an eliminated team, casually kicking at the 93rd minute when no one was watching, shoved Norway from the comfort zone of "a draw is enough" into the gladiator pit of "must win."
Norway coach Ståle Solbakken vented at the post-match press conference, but it was really a confession: "I was angry at everyone cramping up at the time, all the cramping defensive players." The 3-2 win over Senegal was far uglier than the scoreline suggested. In the second half, Sarr tore the game apart; Norway’s defense was shredded, with four or five players suffering cramps. The forwards weren’t tired; it was all the defenders whose legs gave out. Once center-backs and full-backs cramped, their turns were half a beat slower, their recovery runs a step shorter, and a simple long ball over the top could break through the defense. Solbakken admitted "the last 10 minutes became extraordinarily difficult." In the second round of group stage, a collective defensive cramp exposed all the flaws in fitness reserves and rotation depth. That’s the logic behind Haaland being benched—the defense was on the verge of collapse, and the field couldn’t afford a pure striker who doesn’t track back. Solbakken said before the game that Haaland "isn’t obsessed with chasing the Golden Boot"—half true; his body really needed rest.
Over on Mbappé’s side, it’s a completely different story. In the 3-1 win over Senegal, he scored twice at the 66th and 90+6th minutes, and with 58 goals, surpassed Giroud’s 57 to become France’s all-time top scorer. Giroud said afterward, "I texted Mbappé right away"—polite words from the veteran, but also a stamp of the handing over of the crown. In the 3-0 win over Iraq, Mbappé scored at the 14th and 54th minutes, Dembélé added one at 66 minutes, and the match had 19 shots to 4, 55% possession—Iraq couldn’t even mount a decent counterattack. France could afford to rest key players like Saliba because they had the goal difference in hand; a draw would suffice. Norway couldn’t dare to rotate; losing meant losing the top spot, so Solbakken had to keep cramping defenders on the field.
Both teams have advanced, but the knockout bracket paths for the group winner and runner-up are worlds apart. The winner faces some third-place team from Groups C, D, F, G, or H, likely a mid-tier team crawling out of the group of death; the runner-up directly meets Ivory Coast on June 30 in Dallas. That’s the team that beat Curaçao 2-0 with a brace from Pépé, breaking out of Group E with Germany and Ecuador—a tough nut, reaching the knockout stage for the first time in its history and hungry to bite. On one side, an unknown third-place team; on the other, a freshly unleashed African hard case. The math adds up: everyone in both coaching staffs knows the value of the top spot.
Mbappé: 4 goals. Haaland: 4 goals. Tonight, Mbappé starts; Haaland sits on the bench. One is on the grass finding his shooting boots, the other on the bench waiting for his muscles to recover. The French are calculating the knockout route; the Norwegians are calculating their defense’s stamina. As for the Golden Boot, it comes down to whose legs give out first.