Norway vs. France: Can the Vikings stun the favourites at 2026 World Cup?

Ahead of the 2026 World Cup contest between Norway and France, Sports Mole's Site Coordinator Ben Knapton discusses whether a shock result could be on the cards.

Ben Knapton, Site Coordinator: 'There's a real strong sense of unity and togetherness'

It's only their fourth ever World Cup, but this is a Norwegian golden generation and it looks like they are coming good. 

Whenever the phrase golden generation is used, I always think of Belgium and what happened to them, so I take it with a pinch of salt. 

They've scored seven goals so far, the joint second most of all teams, only behind Germany. There's a real strong sense of unity and togetherness within this Norway camp. 

Haaland is the star man, but defensive-minded players have contributed to four of their goals at the World Cup. 

There's one each for Ostigard and right-back Pedersen, an assist for Berge, and also an assist from David Moller Wolfe, so there are goal involvements all across the field. 

Defensively, there are certainly questions to be asked. 

For that first Ismaila Sarr goal, I still don't know how he managed to hook it into the roof of the net as he was falling down. 

That was a brilliant finish, but essentially they were at sixes and sevens for both of the Senegal goals. 

The second goal came in stoppage time and, while it didn't affect the overall scoreline, it did make a difference to the group standings, because if Norway hadn't conceded, they'd be top right now on goals scored. 

You wonder how big a difference that might make for who finishes first and second. 

When they reached the last 16 of the World Cup in 1998, they never led at half time in any game, yet they've done so in both games so far. 

I don't think you can say they've really exploded out of the blocks, as it took until the 43rd minute to find the back of the net against Senegal. 

It's a really tight-knit squad with a long-serving manager in Stale Solbakken. 

I'm really excited to see what they can do, firstly against France and then against whoever they face in the latter stages. Should be a good game.