Norway 1-4 France: FIFA World Cup Match Report

Four of the five goals arrived before half-time. Norway 1-4 France was settled long before the finish, and by the interval it had already produced everything the bet on it needed. The half-time score of 1-3 tells you the shape of the night: Norway scored, France scored three times, and the remaining forty-five minutes added a single goal to the pile.

France came in having won both previous matches, 3-1 against Senegal and 3-0 against Iraq, and left with a perfect nine points and a 10:2 record — the strongest attacking return in Group I and among the best in the tournament. Norway had won both of theirs too, 4-1 against Iraq and 3-2 against Senegal, so this was a meeting of unbeaten sides with first place genuinely at stake. It did not stay a contest for long.

Norway's goal is the detail that complicates the picture. Only two of France's opponents scored against them in the entire group stage, and Norway were one of them. That single concession is the reason France finished 10:2 rather than 10:1, and it is also the reason this match settled the way our pre-match angle needed it to.

First place, and comfortably. France took the group with nine points from nine; Norway finished second on six, their goal difference cut from plus six to plus one by the three-goal margin. Senegal's 5-0 win over Iraq on the same day left them on three points with an 8:6 record, close enough that Norway's cushion was worth having.

Second place was enough to go through, so the defeat cost Norway nothing but seeding. France went deep, reaching the semi-finals before losing 2-0 to eventual champions Spain and then the third-place play-off, where England beat them 6-4. Iraq finished bottom of the group without a point, one goal scored and twelve conceded.

Our pre-match call was Both Teams to Score at 1.70, and it was settled inside the first half.

The reasoning was that neither side had shown any inclination to shut up shop. France had scored three in each of their first two matches, Norway four and then three in theirs, and both had already conceded in the group. Norway had beaten Senegal 3-2 three days earlier, a match in which both teams scored more than once. The pick did not require Norway to compete with France, only to score once, and that requirement was met before the break with the game otherwise already gone. A comfortable win on a bet that never looked like being decided late. Verdict: won