Norway – Senegal

The African national team will play as well as the bold Norwegians.

The vast majority of football experts agree that the Norway national team brought to North America its best squad in history. Led by the leader of their attack, Erling Haaland, the Scandinavians, with solid players at other positions, were united by Ståle Solbakken into a strong unit. Not dropping a single point to any of their qualifying opponents, including the unlucky Italians, Norway, in an interesting way, gave a sense of its level in friendly matches in the first half of 2026. In those games the Norwegians narrowly lost to the Netherlands, drew with fairly strong Morocco and Switzerland, and Sweden offered little resistance. In other words, Haaland and company are capable of playing on equal terms with teams of the second tier behind the elite, and easily dispatching opponents of lower class. In the opening group-stage match of the 2026 World Cup, Norway confirmed this reputation by crushing Iraq 4-1. Senegal arrived at the World Cup as the de facto winner of the Africa Cup of Nations. Legally, this status has passed to Morocco, but most football fans have their own take on it. Having qualified for the World Cup without problems, the Senegalese side attracts heightened attention here. This tournament may be Sadio Mané's last with the national team, which in recent years has been brought to its peak. In Senegal's opening group-stage match, France was one of world football's main examiners. For much of the game the Africans managed to hold their own against the world runners-up, but in the middle of the second half the opponent's class told. With the efforts of Michael Olise and Kylian Mbappé the French surged ahead and won. In the upcoming clash with yet another European side, Senegal again does not have a noticeable personnel advantage. Norway, assembled from players in the English Premier League, the Bundesliga and other European top leagues, is rightly regarded as the favorite, but the organization and the class of the Senegalese team after the France game leave no doubts. The African team will pick up at least one point.