Ivory Coast 1-2 Norway: Amad 74; Nusa 39, Haaland 86
So Norway are through and for the first time in their history. A 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast on Tuesday ensured they reached the World Cup last 16, where they will face Brazil.
Erling Haaland tapped in four minutes to the end of normal time to shatter Ivory Coast, who had done well to respond after going behind in the first half through a delightful goal by Antonio Nusa, Amad Diallo providing the perfect riposte with a spectacular goal himself late in the second period.
Amad was very good in this game, providing the three peak moments of Ivory Coast. First the winger was on hand with a goal-line clearance in the second half to deny Torbjorn Heggem, a goal that would have doubled Norway’s lead after Nusa had cut in on the left with 39 minutes played and curled exquisitely into the top corner.
Having kept his side in the tie at one end, Amad then produced something special at the other, exchanging passes with Nicolas Pepe at the edge of the box and then bursting in near the byline, ghosting past defenders and then thrusting the ball beyond Orjan Nyland.
It was far from a very good Norway team that showed up here at the Dallas Stadium, despite manager Stale Solbakken having rested his players against France to keep them fresh for the knockouts. If they are to go as far as their well-wishers are dreaming in this tournament, then they need to put in braver, better attacking play.
Here the Norwegians defended deep and allowed Ivory Coast to dictate play, lucky perhaps that the west Africans themselves were often unsure of what to do with the ball when they had it. Amad’s equaliser had them dreaming of yet another upset – penalties perhaps? – as the game approached stoppage time.
But then came Haaland’s equaliser. Patrick Berg was allowed space on the inside right and he burst into the penalty area before squaring for an unmarked Haaland, who tapped the ball towards goal but seemed to panic after seeing he did not put that much force to it. Luckily from a Norwegian perspective, there was just enough power for the ball to roll over the line.
Amad produced his third big moment for his side shortly after, curling a freekick towards the top left corner for what seemed a certain goal, but Nyland reached out with a superb one-handed save and before long Norway could celebrate.
