Ivory Coast and Norway have confirmed their starting line-ups for the round of 16 in Dallas on Tuesday – with Erling Haaland back in the starting eleven.
The Elephants finished second in Group E after a 1-0 win over Ecuador and a 2-0 win over Curaçao, with a 2-1 loss to Germany in between. Ståle Solbakken’s Norway beat Iraq 4-1 and Senegal 3-2, before they rested 10 players in the 4-1 loss to France.
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The winner of this clash will face Brazil – five-time world champions – in the round of eight in New Jersey on Sunday.
Confirmed teams
Ivory Coast starting eleven (4-3-3): Yahia Fofana – Ghislain Konan, Odilon Kossounou, Guéla Doué, Emmanuel Agbadou – Franck Kessié, Ibrahim Sangaré, Christ Inao Oulai – Ange-Yoan Bonny, Yan Diomandé, Nicolas Pépé
Ivory Coast substitutes: (follows)
Norway’s starting eleven (4-3-3): Ørjan Nyland – Kristoffer Ajer, David Møller Wolfe, Marcus Holmgren Pedersen, Torbjørn Heggem – Patrick Berg, Sander Berge, Martin Ødegaard – Alexander Sørloth, Erling Haaland, Antonio Nusa
Norway’s substitutes: (follows)
Norway makes 10 changes from the loss to France – Patrick Berg is the only one who keeps his place.
Key figures for Côte d’Ivoire vs. Norway
- Ivory Coast have won multiple games in a World Cup for the first time, scoring the opening goal in all three group games.
- They have won one of five World Cup matches against European opposition (one draw, three losses) – but have won their last two such matches.
- Nicolas Pépé became the second Ivorian to score twice in a World Cup match – 20 years after Aruna Dindane against Serbia. At 31 years and 27 days, he was the second oldest African to score twice in a World Cup match, after Roger Milla (38 years, 34 days).
- Yan Diomandé is the second African player with at least 10 dribbles and 10 chances created in a single group stage, after South Africa’s Quinton Fortune in 2002.
- Norway has lost two of 19 matches against African nations (nine wins, eight draws) – losses against Senegal (2006) and South Africa (2009).
- This is Norway’s third World Cup knockout match ever, after losses to Italy in 1938 (2–1) and 1998 (1–0).
- Solbakken’s team has not lost two games in a row since September 2022.
- Erling Haaland could become the first player since Hungary’s Sándor Kocsis in 1954 to score in each of his first three World Cup appearances.
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