Norway vs France live online: updates, score, goals and highlights | 2026 World Cup Group I 

Where are we 

We are in Boston Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. There is a long history and tradition of winning in this stadium, much like the French team have in this tournament. The stadiums have been one of the talking points of the World Cup, and this one is one of the favorites among the fans. The Norwegians will be rowing their ship pregame and the the French will be belting out La Marseillaise during the pregame festivities. 

World Cup 2026

What happens if teams end up with the same number of points in the World Cup group stage?

Change up the system

Unlike previous World Cups, the format on tiebreakers has changed. They used to be decided on goal difference, but now that has been changed to head to head results. If the two teams are level on points, and drew in the head to head match, then it will be decided by goal difference. This is just one of the many changes to the tournament we have seen this year. Others being the number of teams, a round of 32, and new rules to help speed up the game and cut out delays or time wasting tactics. 

Confirmed round 32 matches 

There are 16 matches to come in the next round of the tournament, but at the moment there are only four confirmed matches that have been set in stone for the  round of 32. The first of which is the first match of the next round. Canada and South Africa will kick off the next stage of the tournament on Sunday. Brazil and Japan will play the following day and so will the Netherlands and Morocco. USA against Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only other match that has been confirmed, but there is sure to be more clarity after today's batch of games.

Eliminated teams 

There are only two more days left in the group stages and there are a lot of teams still holding on to hope for their World Cup campaign to be extended. As of right now there are only six teams that have been officially eliminated from the next stage of the tournament. 

Czechia 

Jordan 

Haiti 

Türkiye 

Curacao 

Tunisia 

Panama 

Qatar  

France is going with their big guns up top. The four horseman are back for this side that has scored 3 goals in each of their first two games. 

One more day of group stages 

We are almost at the end of the group stages. It´s true that there won't be as many games after this, but the action doesn’t stop, and it’s all about quality of matches, not quantity. Tomorrow is the final day of group stage matches with Group L, Group K and Group J all wrapping up their groups. England headline the early matches, while Portugal and Colombia battle for the top spot in Group K and Messi and Argentina will wrap up their group stage campaign before heading into the round of 32. 

I think there are going to be a lot of surprised people that tune into the game today and see both Haaland and Odegaard on the bench to start maybe the biggest World Cup match in Norway's history.

What else do we got? 

We have plenty more in store today. This is just the beginning of a busy day full of soccer. Six games in total with spots in the knock out round up for grabs. Group I kicks us off today, but after this batch of games we have Uruguay and Spain in battle for the top of Group H while Saudi Arabia and Cabo Verde square off in the other match in that group. We will cap the night off with Egypt and Iran and New Zealand and Belgium in two Group G matches to decide who is moving on to the next round. 

World Cup 2026

Why are Mexico vs Czechia and South Africa vs South Korea games played at the same time? 2026 World Cup Group A

Overlapping matches 

Why are these games kicking off at the same time you might wonder? Well its usually so that no teams have an advantage or disadvantage of knowing the result of the other match in the group. FIFA does this to ensure fail play and to increase the drama although it would probably be more lucrative to have the games on at different times. In this group the kickoff at the same time won't matter much, but there are some groups in which it will be high drama as we saw in the Germany-Ecuador game. 

The other match 

The other match kicking off at the same time is the other match in this group. Senegal and Iraq will be starting their final group stage match from Toronto at 3 p.m. ET although there doesn't look to be a whole lot of hope for either team. The winner will have a slight chance over moving on as one of the eight third placed teams but those chances are getting slimmer and slimmer as the group stages near an end. 

Les Bleus since USA 1994

France have been a dominant force in this tournament since they failed for the 1990 and 1994 World Cups. After the 94 World Cup that was held in the US, they would go on to not just qualify for every World Cup after that, but they would be in serious contention to win in many of those editions. They won it in 1998 as the host nation. They were runners up in 2006. Champions in 2018 and runners up again in Qatar back in 2022. After all this success, this might be the best this France side has ever been, and that's a scary thought for the rest of the world. 

FIFA Rankings 

As we always do before every match we stop to take a look at the official FIFA World Rankings, and today we see that France is still sitting in second place, behind Argentina. They came into the tournament in third, but after two wins and a slip up from Spain against Cabo Verde they have taken the second spot. Norway were in 31st coming into this World Cup but their two wins have bounced them all the way up to the 22nd spot. 

Golden Boot race 

The race for the Golden Boot is in full swing. It doesn't always happen, but the top stars in the world are sitting at the top of the goal scoring leaderboard. It has been non stop action, chances and goals from the games best and brightest and as we near the end of group stages, this is how the Golden Boot race is looking. 

Messi, 5 goals and 0 assists

Vinicius, 4 goals and 1 assists 

Mbappe, 4 goals and 0 assists

Erling Haaland, 4 goals and 0 assists 

Undav, 3 goals and 2 assists 

France's XI 

A couple changes in the France XI as opposed to last game against Iraq. Delacroix gets his first start, and Tchouameni is back in the XI. So too is Theo Hernandez and Desire Doue.

No Haaland or Odegaard for Norway

This is a shocking XI from Norway in a massive match to win the group. Neither Haaland nor Odegaard are in the starting sheet for Stale Solbakken.

Norway fans  

Its been a while since Norway have made it to the World Cup, and in those 28 years since they were last here we might have forgotten just who rowdy this bunch is. We have seen them doing their famous chants, and viking rowing routine in stadiums around the country and even taking over Times Square. They will be in full force today from Boston if their side are going to have a chance at taking the top spot in the group. 

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Why isn’t Didier Deschamps on the touchline vs. Norway, and who is leading France in World Cup clash?

Deschamps not in Boston 

This is massive match for the French side, but they will not have their manager on the touchline to wrap the group stages up. Our Roddy Cons has more. 

Star watch: Norway

It´s not just Haaland and Odegaard that are the stars of this team. This is a golden generation for Norwegian soccer, but obviously with those two on this team our star watch portion was going to be dedicated to one of them. The heroes of their country play on rivaling sides in the Premier League. Both have been crucial pieces to the puzzle on title winning sides, and now they look to carry that club success over to the international level. Haaland has two goals in each of his first two World Cup matches while Odegaard registered an assist in each of his first two World Cup matches. 

Star watch: France 

Pick your poison if you are Frances opposition. Who do you choose to focus the attention on defensively? Who do you leave with space to operate? It's a cruel cruel decision to have to make, because as soon as you start focusing on Mbappe, Dembele strikes. As soon as you turn your attention to Dembele, the Michael Olise pops up and makes magic happen. If you want to make sure all of them are properly maked then Barcola or Doue will be waiting to pounce. It´s an embarrassment of riches that Didier Deschamps has at his offering. 

Group I forecast 

This was considered to be one of the Groups of Death with three very strong teams. When you look at the scores of the first two match days and the table heading into the third match day, it looks lop sided but Senegal played France and Norway tough until the end. Senegal and Iraq have no points heading into today, while Norway and France are up top with six points. The winner of this game wins the group while the loser will sit second heading into the round of 32. 

Last game: Norway 

Norway took on a Senegal side that came into this tournament ranked higher than them, and faced their first real test of the World Cup. It was a tight, tense first half, but the deadlock was broken when Marcus Pederson pounced on a loose ball at that back and put the Vikings up a goal to the good right before the halftime whistle. Erling Haaland added to his Golden Boot tally with two second half goals. The first came three minutes after the break after a beautiful pass from Martin Odegaard to double the lead. Senegal cut into the lead in the 53rd minute, but Haaland picked up his brace five minutes later to take his World Cup goal count to four. 

Last game: France 

France put on another attacking clinic against Ira q a few days ago in Philadelphia. It was a rain soaked night in the City of Brotherly Love and there was a two hour delay from the first half to the second half. That didn't slow the French side down in the slightest. Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring with another screamer from outside the are in the 14th minute. The Real Madrid man got his second goal off a horrific mistake from Iraq off a goal kick, and then Ousmane Dembele put the final touch on the match with his first World Cup goal ever in the 66th minute as France wrapped up the three points and stayed at the top of the Group I table. 

We are live from New England  

Hello everyone and welcome to Boston where there is plenty on the line coming into this final match of the group stages. Both of these sides know they are moving on to the next round of the tournament, but there is a big difference between moving on as the first placed team in the group and the second placed team in the group. The easier of the two draws will be awarded to today's winner and this will serve as the first real test for both of these teams who are expected to make a run deep into the knockout rounds. 

Norway vs. France  

Group I saved the best for last as two of the tournaments most star studded sides battle for the top spot in the group today from New England. Two of the top goal scorers in the world go head to head as Erling Haaland and Norway take on Kylian Mbappe and France and AS English will be with you all night providing live coverage, stats highlights and analysis of today's decisive match to end the group stages.