FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Erling Haaland is among 10 regular starters absent from Norway’s starting lineup for the team's World Cup match against France on Friday.
Coach Ståle Solbakken appears to be resting Haaland and others with Norway already qualified for the round of 32. Norway would need to beat France to win Group I because the team trails on goal difference.
Haaland is tied with Brazil’s Vinícius Júnior and France’s Kylian Mbappé for the second-most goals in the tournament with four apiece. That is one behind Argentina’s Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot.
Fredrik Aursnes is the only player who opened Norway's game against Senegal on Monday who is listed among the starting 11. Among the wholesale changes, Egil Selvik is in goal in place of Orjan Nyland.
Mbappé and the rest of France's regular lineup is set to start. But France will be without coach Didier Deschamps, whose mother recently died. That has left assistant coach Guy Stéphan to coach Friday's game in his place.
The 57-year-old Deschamps is currently in France with family. He previously announced he is stepping down as France coach after the tournament, 14 years after taking the job. Deschamps won the World Cup as a player in 1998 and then again as coach in 2018. His France team lost in the final four years ago.
Stéphan said Thursday that his thoughts continue to be with Deschamps and his family.
“He is very affected,” Stéphan said. “I have a lot of exchanges with him, even just a few minutes ago. I will strive to make the situation as normal as possible and to prove worthy of the trust he places in me.”
The winner of Group I will play in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Tuesday against a to-be-determined third-place finisher. The second-place team in the group faces the Ivory Coast the same day in Arlington, Texas.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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