How to handle Haaland gives Senegal coach plenty to ponder
Soccer Football – FIFA World Cup 2026 – Group I – Iraq v Norway – Boston Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts, U.S. – June 16, 2026 Norway’s Erling Haaland celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
NEW YORK, June 20 : Senegal face a defensive conundrum as they prepare to play Norway and their prolific striker Erling Haaland at the World Cup on Monday.
Captain Kalidou Koulibaly returned from injury for Senegal’s opening Group I game against France but was found wanting up against Kylian Mbappe and could be dropped as coach Pape Bouna Thiaw looks to counter the threat of Haaland at the New York/New Jersey Stadium.
Senegal have been touted as Africa’s best hope at the World Cup but had their confidence knocked by a 3-1 loss to France in their opening game.
Norway, in contrast, made a winning start in their first World Cup game since 1998, with Haaland netting twice in a 4-1 victory over Iraq in Boston.
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
How best to deal with Haaland will have given Thiaw plenty to ponder, particularly whether to persist with Koulibaly or replace him with 20-year-old Mamadou Sarr.
SARR STEPPED IN
When Koulibaly was suspended at the African Cup of Nations finals in Morocco, Sarr stepped in and impressed before joining Chelsea. At Stamford Bridge, however, he was usually named among the substitutes and his lack of game time over the last months counted against him when Thiaw finalised the line-up to face France.
The 35-year-old Koulibaly, who has won 104 caps, had played only eight minutes since suffering an injury in training at his Saudi club in April and was well off the pace as Mbappe scored twice to earn France a deserved victory.
A win for Norway would guarantee them progress to the last 32, but their build-up has not been without concerns either.
Domestic media criticism of Martin Odegaard’s performance against Iraq was batted away by his teammates in the build-up to the match, while coach Stale Solbakken has also said he was not happy with aspects of their performance against Iraq, particularly defence.
Norway, who had a 100 per cent qualification record but won only one of four World Cup warm-up friendlies, have kept a single clean sheet in their last eight matches and will be wary of the threat posed by Senegal forwards Nicolas Jackson and Sadio Mane.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Atlanta; Editing by Ed Osmond)
Source: Reuters
Sign up for our newsletters
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
About The Author
