Solbakken Got the Substitution Right. He Still Has a Defense Problem
Norway beat Senegal 3-2 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on June 23, 2026, in their second Group I match, with Erling Haaland scoring twice to send the Vikings into the knockout rounds. Stale Solbakken will take the points and the qualification. He should not be allowed to ignore what nearly went wrong in the final eleven minutes of stoppage time, when a three-goal cushion shrank to one and Senegal kept coming.
Norway finished with 2.20 expected goals to Senegal’s 1.72, a gap that looks comfortable on paper and felt considerably less comfortable by the final whistle.
Here is the decision that gets Solbakken through tonight with his qualification secured and his credibility mostly intact. Forced into an early change when Julian Ryerson went down injured in the 13th minute, Solbakken brought on Marcus Pedersen, a player making his World Cup debut. Pedersen did not just survive the moment. He scored the opening goal in the 43rd minute, pouncing on a loose ball after Kalidou Koulibaly’s clearance fell into his path, and finished confidently past a wrong-footed Edouard Mendy. An enforced substitution turned into the goal that settled the first half, and Solbakken’s willingness to trust an unproven option rather than reshuffle his entire shape paid off immediately.
Aliou Cisse’s logic in his own changes deserves real credit, even with Senegal heading toward an early exit. Bringing on Ismail Jakobs and Ibrahim Mbaye together in the 54th minute, immediately after falling behind 2-0, was a clear attempt to inject pace and width against a Norway side that had scored twice in three minutes either side of halftime. The logic was sound. Jakobs and Mbaye changed the picture almost instantly, with Ismaila Sarr pulling a goal back within minutes of the double change and Senegal suddenly looking dangerous on the counter for the first time all match. The problem is that one positive substitution cannot undo a back line that had already conceded twice in calamitous fashion, and Senegal spent the rest of the match chasing a deficit their own early mistakes created.
The number that follows Senegal out of this group stage, regardless of what happens against Iraq, is brutal in its honesty. Senegal are 0-2 in a World Cup for the first time in the nation’s history, and both Norway goals before the comeback attempt traced back to individual errors at the back rather than moments of Norwegian brilliance. Sadio Mane and Ismaila Sarr combined for two goals in the closing stages, a reminder of the quality still sitting in this squad even as the group stage slips away.
Make no mistake, Senegal’s finish was not garbage time. Ismaila Sarr’s stoppage-time finish in the third minute of injury time, assisted by Nicolas Jackson, came agonizingly close to forcing a draw that would have changed the entire complexion of this group.
Solbakken’s challenge now arrives in the sharpest possible form. Norway face France in four days with first place in the group on the line, and a back line that conceded twice in three minutes against Senegal, then nearly surrendered a two-goal cushion in stoppage time, will face a considerably more ruthless finishing unit in Kylian Mbappe’s France.
There is no job under threat in Oslo tonight, not after Norway secured their first World Cup appearance since 1998 and backed it up with a second straight win. Cisse’s position carries more weight given Senegal now needs a win over Iraq just to stay alive on goal difference and third-place rankings. Solbakken leaves New Jersey with qualification secured and Haaland still scoring at a historic rate. He also leaves with a defensive problem that France will test far harder than Senegal just did.