Norway 3-2 Senegal: FIFA World Cup Match Report

A one-goal half became a five-goal match. Norway 3-2 Senegal stood at 1-0 at the interval and produced four goals after it, the most open ninety minutes Group I saw and the fixture that decided which of these two would qualify.

Both sides arrived with a result behind them. Norway had beaten Iraq 4-1; Senegal had lost 3-1 to France. That made this Senegal's must-win match and Norway's chance to take six points from six. The scoreline says Senegal made a proper contest of it — two goals against a side that would concede seven in the whole group — and still came away with nothing.

Norway's tournament tells a consistent story about how they got their results. They scored eight goals in three group matches and conceded seven, comfortably the loosest record of any side that qualified from this group. They won here by scoring three rather than by keeping Senegal out, and three days later they conceded four to France. Senegal's eight goals scored across the group matched Norway's exactly, and their six conceded were fewer. Points, not goals, were what separated them, and this was the match that produced the points.

It was the qualifying fixture of the group. Norway went to six points and into the knockout rounds with a game to spare; Senegal dropped to zero from two matches and were dependent on results elsewhere from that moment on.

Senegal recovered enough to finish on three points after a 5-0 win over Iraq in the final round, a result that left them with a healthier goal difference than their position suggested. But the second place they had been chasing was already gone, taken by Norway on the back of these three goals. Norway lost 4-1 to France in the last round and still finished second on six points, three clear of Senegal, with the margin banked here.

Our pre-match call was Double Chance 1X (Norway or Draw) at 1.42. Norway won outright, so the draw half was never needed, but the two goals Senegal scored meant the bet came closer to trouble than the final table implies.

The case for Norway was their opening 4-1 win over Iraq set against a Senegal side already beaten by France, and it held up. What it did not account for was how much Norway would have to concede to get there. Seven goals against in three group matches is not the profile of a team you back to avoid defeat lightly, and at 3-2 this could have turned. It did not, and 1.42 on the side that finished three points clear of its opponent was the right side of the market. Verdict: won