Overview
Ivory Coast under the guidance of coach Emerse Fae has for the first time in history qualified for the World Cup knockout round and is aiming to continue writing a memorable journey at the tournament.
The "Elephants" entered the 2026 World Cup with high form when they won 4 consecutive matches before the tournament. They continued to maintain excitement with a 1-0 victory over Ecuador in the opening match.
Despite losing to Germany 1-2 in the second match after Franck Kessie opened the score, the performance of the African representative still received many compliments when causing no small difficulties for the championship contender.
In the last round of the group stage, Nicolas Pepe shone with a double to help Ivory Coast defeat Curacao 2-0, thereby winning second place in Group E and participating in the knockout round of a World Cup for the first time.
This victory also marks Ivory Coast's third clean sheet in the last 5 matches under Emerse Fae. With the stable form of Nicolas Pepe and young talent Yan Diomande, Ivory Coast is showing a balance between attack and defense.
Meanwhile, Norway returned to the World Cup after 28 years of waiting and quickly made a mark thanks to Erling Haaland's explosive form.
The Manchester City striker scored a double in the 4-1 victory over Iraq in the opening match, before continuing to score two goals to help Norway draw with Senegal 3-2. After 52 appearances for the national team, Haaland has scored 59 goals.
However, when the 25-year-old striker could not make a difference in the match against France in the last round of the group stage, Norway immediately revealed many limitations and suffered a 1-4 defeat.
The biggest weakness of this team is still in the defense. Norway has only kept a clean sheet once in the last 10 matches, which was the 0-0 draw against Switzerland at the end of March.
Therefore, the confrontation with Ivory Coast promises to be very balanced. The African representative possesses a solid defense and many effective attacking options, while Norway still places high hopes on Haaland's scoring ability.
Personnel situation
Ivory Coast is likely still without Wilfried Singo as the Galatasaray center-back is racing against time to recover from a hamstring injury. He was absent in the victory against Curacao and his ability to play against Norway is still open.
In case Singo continues to be sidelined, Emerse Fae is likely to keep the same defensive framework with Ousmane Diomande and Odilon Kossounou in the center, while Guela Doue and Ghislain Konan take charge of the two wings.
On the Norwegian side, right-back Julian Ryerson had a thigh problem and missed a training session with the whole team. However, the Borussia Dortmund player still has a chance to be on the registered squad list.
If Ryerson does not recover in time, Fredrik Aursnes is considered an alternative on the right wing. At that time, Patrick Berg will partner Sander Berge and Martin Odegaard in the midfield.
Expected lineup:
Ivory Coast: Fofana, Doue, Kossounou, O. Diomande, Konan, Sangare, Diallo, Kessie, Oulai, Y. Diomande, Pepe.
Norway: Nyland, Aursnes, Ajer, Heggem, Moller Wolfe, Odegaard, Berg, Berge, Sorloth, Haaland, Nusa.
The match between Ivory Coast and Norway takes place at 0:00 AM on July 1st (Vietnam time).
