The third matchday of the first phase of the 2026 World Cup began with a battle for the top spots. In a direct duel for the top of Group E, France shone 4-1 against a Norway team filled with substitutes, while Senegal annihilated 5-0 against Iraq to finish third and dream of qualifying for the Round of 32.
Norway 1-4 France
In just seconds, France would come close to the first goal: Kylian Mbappé would receive the ball on the counter and drive to the right side of the area, where he would unleash a powerful right-footed shot that would hit the crossbar.
The French onslaught wouldn't stop there as they continued to create several chances that would inevitably lead to the 1-0. In the 6th minute, Mbappé would assistOusmane Dembélé brilliantly, who would cut in and take a shot that left goalkeeperEgil Selvik motionless.
In the following stretch, Norway would manage to settle into the game a bit, generating their own opportunities, but their opponent would not decrease in intensity and would find the 2-0 in the 19th minute, thanks once again to a exquisite finish from Dembélé to the same corner of Selvik's goal.
Despite the blow, the Nordics would quickly reduce the deficit, taking a kick-off from the center: Andreas Schjelderup would advance down the left wing and pass toThelo Aasgaard, who would enter the area and, taking advantage of the free space given by Dayot Upamecano, would shoot easily at Mike Maignan's goal for the 2-1.
So much adrenaline in such a short span of time would be abruptly cut off by the cooling break; however, that wouldn't prevent the goals from continuing. In the 32nd minute, Dembélé would complete his personal hat-trickand the third for Les Blues with a goal similar to the previous ones: a lethal left-footed shot to the far post.
At the start of the second half, the Norwegians would have an unbeatable chance to narrow the gap to just one goal: a penalty. In the 48th, Theo Hernández would bring down Oscar Bobb in the area and the referee would award the penalty. The one with the chance for a possible 3-2 would be Jørgen Strand Larsen, but Maignan would guess right and save his shot.
After this sequence, the match would enter a tense calm that would last until the final moments. When it seemed everything would end without any more notable actions, in the 93rd of 95, France would seal their victory with a header goal from Désiré Doué.
Just like in the other match, action would be seen in the early moments of the game. Senegal would comfortably dominate Iraq and in just 3 minutes would take the lead: Abdoulaye Seck would collect a corner kick from Lamine Camara and Habib Diarra would deflect it into the goal.
To make matters worse for Iraq, in addition to starting behind on the scoreboard early, they would go down to ten men in the 12th due to a foul by Rebin Sulaka on Sadio Mané as the last man. From the resulting free kick, Mané himself would test goalkeeper Ahmed Basil, who would manage to clear it.
Despite the numerical advantage, for the rest of the first half, the Africans couldn't increase the lead, something they would achieve in the second half. In the 55th, after a serious Iraqi mistake in defense, Lamine Camara would steal the ball and penetrate deep into the area, passing to Ismaïla Sarr, who would only have to push it in to score the 2-0.
And it wouldn't stop there, as just 3 minutes later they would reach the third: Sarr would pass to the recently substituted Pape Gueye, who would score a true unstoppable screamer for Jalal Hassan Hachim, who had come on for the injured Basil.
Not content with having completely won the match, Senegal would score not only a fourth but also a fifth. First, in the 70th, the substitute Iliman Ndiaye would bring down an aerial pass from Ismail Jakobs, leaving the finish served for PapeGueye, who would blast it into the net past Hachim. Later, in the 81st, Ndiaye himself would score another stunning goal to close the account.
With these results, France finished first with a perfect score and will face a third-place team from GroupsD (Paraguay), F (Sweden), G or H in the Round of 32 on Tuesday, June 30 at the MetLife Stadium in New York/New Jersey. Meanwhile, Norway finished second with 6 points and will face Côte d'Ivoire the same day at the AT&T Stadium in Texas.
Further down, Senegal finished third with 3 points and will depend on how the rest of the groups finish to see if they finally make it into the top 8 third-placed teams and advance to the next phase. If they do, they will play against a first-place team from Group A (Mexico), B (Switzerland), G (currently Egypt), K (currently Colombia) or L (currently Croatia).
Finally, Iraq closed their dismal second World Cup participation as bottom of the group with three losses and no points, similar to what happened in the 1986 edition in Mexico, where they also failed to achieve even a draw, although in this World Cup they conceded many more goals.
