Why Norway’s gamble to rest Haaland and Odegaard can pay off at the World Cup | OneFootball

Erling Haaland enjoyed a rare rest on Friday as Norway took on France in Boston, but he might not be thanking his manager. Stale Solbakken’s bold call to change 10 of his starting XI for Norway’s third group game put a pin in Haaland’s Golden Boot race for a few days, and gave a helping hand to one of his rivals as Ousmane Dembele scored a sublime hat-trick in France’s 4-1 win.

Not that Solbakken will lose any sleep over it. “I don’t care at all,” he said this week when asked about Haaland’s pursuit of an individual award and whether that might be jeopardised.

Solbakken signposted in his press conference this week that he might rotate his Norway team. Interestingly, he was taking inspiration from France themselves after Didier Deschamps rested players in their final group game in Qatar four years ago, where Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele all started on the bench.

“We can learn a lot from France,” the manager said. “They have been able to go into game three in the group stages and rest some players … they have been smart.”

Perhaps, then, Solbakken was a little surprised when Didier Deschamps took a different approach here, playing a strong side against Norway as they looked to close out top spot in Group I. Solbakken talked up the twin dangers of Mbappe and Michael Olise ahead of the game, so it was a sign of French strength that their match-winner was a different player altogether as Dembele thrived.

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France's Ousmane Dembele celebrates scoring their third goal (Reuters)

There are some obvious arguments against resting players at this stage of a tournament. The momentum of Norway’s opening two wins drained away in a drubbing, although who’s to say their first XI would have done much better against a team of France’s quality?

Whether momentum actually exists as a meaningful force in football is a point of debate anyway, with some studies suggesting form has a negligible impact on the outcome of the next game. Solbakken’s reference point, France in 2022, is an interesting case study: Deschamps’ second string lost 1-0 to Tunisia, yet France went to the final and almost won the World Cup.

England, incidentally, did something similar in 2018 when Gareth Southgate rested players against Belgium. Southgate’s reasoning was partly about fitness and the condition of his stars, and partly about sharing around minutes to boost feeling of inclusivity and morale. England were beaten 1-0 but overperformed through the rest of the tournament, reaching the semi-finals where they lost to Croatia. Ironically, Southgate played a stronger XI against Belgium in the third-place play-off later in the tournament and they were outplayed, losing 2-0.

Different managers will have their own approaches over the next couple of evenings. The Independent asked Thomas Tuchel before this World Cup whether he would consider rotating his England team during the group stage. He replied that he would, but he was wary of changing too much and losing connections between players.

But clearly if there has ever been a World Cup to rest players, it is this one. For the first time there are 48 nations and 104 games, most of which are being played out in searing heat, and even Gianni Infantino’s three-minute water breaks, spawned from the goodness of his heart, are not going to change the brutal impact on the players as the tournament rages on.

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Haaland watches on from the dugout (AP)

Haaland, of course, has more reason than most to rest, having played relentlessly for Manchester City this season in the most intensely physical league in the world. Martin Odegaard, who was also rested against France, had his own hefty workload which included the Champions League final.

So Norway effectively sacrificed any hope of topping the group. France are likely to meet Norway’s Scandinavian neighbours Sweden in the round of 32, although that is still to be confirmed – another possibility is Belgium. That game takes place in New Jersey, and a potential last-16 meeting with Germany in Philadelphia could follow.

Norway’s path now runs into Ivory Coast, a team full of attacking quality, particularly in wingers Yan Diomande and Amad Diallo, in Dallas. Brazil could then follow in New Jersey.

Would Norway’s path have been easier had they topped the group? This reporter watched Sweden get ripped apart by Netherlands in Houston last week and would instinctively answer, yes. Sweden are probably a notch below Ivory Coast. Then again, the fixture with the Ivorians will take place in Dallas’s air-conditioned stadium, so Norway may feel that little bit less fatigued should they reach the last 16 – and Ivory Coast will face a fully refreshed version of Norway after their big night off.

And, of course, there is no guarantee Haaland and company would have earned top spot from a night’s hard effort in Boston. There is no guarantee Sweden would have been their opponents, given the draw is not yet set. And there is no guarantee Sweden would have been pushovers, given their attacking talents, and given the intense rivalry between the two countries which would have created a derby atmosphere at the MetLife Stadium. Most other countries would relish playing Sweden, but not Norway.

Instead, Norway have rolled the dice. And really, who are we to question Solbakken? This is a man who was effectively dead for seven minutes when he suffered a cardiac arrest during training in 2001. He knows what’s important in life and in football, more than most, and apparently it isn’t the Golden Boot.