The third time was the charm. After the eliminations of Germany and Netherlands against Paraguay and Morocco respectively, finally a European team managed to advance to the round of 16. In a match where they never felt comfortable, Norway defeated a combative Ivory Coast 2-1 that tried hard but fell short.
The match would start with a possession duel in phases, where both teams would approach the opponent's area, but neither would create danger. The first clear chance would come only at 20 from the African side, with a shot from Ghislain Konan that would go just past the left post of Örjan Nyland.
After the first cooling break, the game would gradually tilt towards "The Elephants," who would have repeated chances and force the Norwegians to retreat close to their goal; however, the latter would be the first to be truly effective. At 39, Antonio Nusa would receive a pass from Martin Ødegaard at the left corner of the area and, after creating some space, would open his foot to score a true stunner into the right corner to make it 1-0.
In the second half, Ivory Coast would come out determined to equalize the score. Among the chances they would have, the most notable would occur at 54: Nicolas Pépé would find a rebound in the area after a shot from Guéla Doué, whom he had assisted earlier, and would shoot first time, but Nyland would manage to clear it.
Although they were suffering against their rival, just before the second hydration break Norway would come close to scoring a second. At 66, from the corner Ødegaard would cross into the area, where it would connect with the head of Alexander Sørloth, whose attempt would fall to Torbjörn Heggem who could not score due to a miraculous save by the substitute Amad Diallo on the line.
Despite this scare, the Africans would not lose focus and would finally reach the long-awaited equalizer. At 73, Diallo would make a great combination with Pépé, shaking off his markers in the small area and beating Nyland to make it 1-1.
When it seemed that the match would be decided in extra time or even penalties, towards the end of regulation time "The Red Vikings" would take the lead again. At 85, the substitute Oscar Bobb would filter a precise pass to Patrick Berg in the area, who would lay it off for Erling Haaland who would only have to push the ball in to make it 2-1.
In the last gasp of the match, the African team would earn a promising free kick for a foul by Ødegaard on Ibahim Sangaré. The one to take it would be Diallo, who despite his great execution, Nyland with a spectacular one-handed save would deflect the ball and seal the result in favor of the Europeans.
With this victory, Norway qualified for the round of 16, where they will face Brazil next Sunday, July 5 at 17:00 (Argentina time) at the MetLife Stadium in New York/New Jersey.
