25JUL

France and Norway cruise into last 16

2 min read

11:57UTC

Kylian Mbappe scored twice as France beat Sweden 3-0, and Erling Haaland's late goal carried Norway past Ivory Coast 2-1.

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Key takeaway

France beat Sweden 3-0 and Norway beat Ivory Coast 2-1, both favourites through without extra time.

France beat Sweden 3-0 at MetLife Stadium on 30 June and Norway beat Ivory Coast 2-1 the same day, both pre-tournament favourites reaching the last 16 without alarm ¹. Kylian Mbappe scored twice for France, with Bradley Barcola adding the third; Erling Haaland settled Norway's tie after Antonio Nusa's opener ².

MetLife Stadium, in East Rutherford outside New York, hosted France's win and will stage the final later in July. Mbappe, the France captain and one of the tournament's leading scorers, struck in first-half stoppage time and again after the hour. Haaland, Norway's record scorer at his first World Cup, applied the decisive finish a week after Norway rested him and captain Martin Odegaard for a dead-rubber group game .

The round's upsets fell on two European names that could not take their chances, not on the seeding as a whole. France and Norway carried more attacking quality than their opponents and converted it without needing extra time or penalties. Advancing with a full side and fresh legs matters into the last 16, where France in particular avoid the fatigue that Belgium and others spent overcoming their own scares.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

France beat Sweden 3-0, with Kylian Mbappe scoring twice, and Norway beat Ivory Coast 2-1 with a late Erling Haaland winner. Both sides went into the tournament as favourites to go deep, and both advanced comfortably rather than needing a nervy finish. A comfortable knockout win usually means less physical wear heading into the next match, since neither side had to play extra time or defend a late lead under pressure.

Source Landscape

This story draws on neutral-leaning sources

Consensus view: Opta's win-probability models treat comfortable round-of-32 wins by pre-tournament favourites, such as France's 3-0 and Norway's 2-1, as a meaningful positive signal for a deep run, since sides that ease through their first knockout tie typically arrive at the next round with less fatigue than one that needed extra time.

Counter-view: Football writers covering both sides have cautioned that round-of-32 opponents are rarely a side's toughest test, so an untroubled scoreline here says more about the draw than about how either favourite will cope once knockout football gets harder.

Key tension: Whether an easy first knockout win is genuine evidence of tournament-winning form or simply a reflection of facing a weaker opponent.

Sources:FIFA·Opta

Mentions:France →Sweden →Kylian Mbappé →Bradley Barcola →Norway →Erling Haaland →MetLife Stadium →Martin Ødegaard →Opta →Belgium →East Rutherford →World Cup →Côte d'Ivoire →

First Reported In

Update #32 · Four dead in Mexico's World Cup crush

FIFA· 2 Jul 2026

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Causes and effects

This Event

France and Norway cruise into last 16

The round's two favourites, France and Norway, advanced in normal time while the shocks fell on other European sides.

Led to

Mbappe penalty puts France in last eight

France beat Sweden in the round of 32 before beating Paraguay to reach the quarter-finals.

Occurred 4 Jul 2026

Read story →

Different Perspectives

Real Madrid

Operating internally on the basis Rodri joins, according to David Ornstein's reporting, despite no talks having taken place with Manchester City. The gap between internal planning and actual negotiation is itself notable.

Manchester City

Unwilling to sell Rodri, with manager Enzo Maresca stating he returns to the club after back surgery. No club-to-club talks with Real Madrid are taking place, contradicting the framing of a deal in motion.

CONMEBOL

Backs the move to a 64-team 2030 tournament co-hosted across South America. Has not engaged publicly with FIFPRO's workload or heat-threshold objections drawn from this tournament's data.

FIFA

Points to its 30 June technical and officiating reviews as the authoritative account of the tournament's football, including Collina's rejection of bias claims. Has not publicly responded to the renewed compensation call or disputed FIFPRO's heat-threshold figures.

FIFPRO

Measures a four-degree gap between its own 28C postponement threshold and FIFA's 32C cooling-break trigger, breached in 19% of matches played. Cites a 70-83 match workload projection to oppose the 64-team 2030 format.

Human Rights Watch

Documents 54 immigration-custody deaths before kickoff and two since, and revives the compensation duty FIFA's own advisers identified after Qatar 2022 and never acted on. Treats the pattern as unresolved FIFA liability, not a closed file.