Coach Says Morocco ‘No Longer a Surprise’ After Reaching World Cup Quarters

Ståle Solbakken knows all about Norway's stunning upset of Brazil during the 1998 World Cup. He was a reserve and watched from the sideline in Marseille as his teammates delivered arguably the biggest victory in men's football in the Scandinavian country’s history.

Now coaching the national team, he also knows facing Brazil on Sunday in the round of 16 is much different than that game nearly three decades ago in group play when his powerhouse opponent had nothing to play for. This time, a spot in the quarterfinals is at stake, and while Solbakken acknowledges it would still be a surprise if Norway knocks off the five-time World Cup champions, it is a realistic possibility in a matchup that is much more evenly matched.

“I still see obviously Brazil is the favorites (but) I don’t think they are big, big, big favorites, which they may be had been some years ago,” Solbakken said Saturday at a news conference ahead of the game. “We still need to be our very, very best. Otherwise, we have no chance. But if we are on our very, very best, then we have a chance.”

Brazil is a slight favorite to advance to play the winner of the titanic matchup between Mexico and England on July 11 outside Miami. Seleção has won three in a row since opening the tournament with a draw against Morocco, also at the Meadowlands in northern New Jersey.

Norway has a win of its own at the stadium outside New York, defeating Senegal to advance to the knockout round. Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti called Norway a challenging opponent because of structure, as well as talent.

“They have great players,” Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimarães said through an interpreter. “They are not in the knockout rounds by accident. It’s not that we are not respecting Norway. We just believe in our football. We believe in our country, and we want to continue on this dream."

Norway's Erling Haaland and Brazil's Vinícius Júnior are the stars to watch

Standout Norway striker Erling Haaland has five goals at the World Cup, 25 over his past 14 competitive matches internationally and 60 in 53 with the national team. His next challenge is trying to shake Brazil's back line duo of Gabriel Magalhães and Marquinhos that Solbakken called one of the best central defenses around.

“There will certainly be some tough duels between them and Erling,” Solbakken said. “But for me it's more about Brazil against Norway and not that those two against Erling.”

At the other end, Brazil features a dangerous forward trio led by Vinícius Júnior. He and Matheus Cunha have combined for seven goals through four games.

Asked to compare the 6-foot-5, 205-pound Haaland and the 5-foot-9, 170-pounder known as “Viní,” Solbakken said, “One is a machine that you can see the accelerations and the great physique, and the other is more a ballerina that can dance with the ball.”

Guimarães called Haaland one of the best attacking players in the world, in the same stratosphere as England's Harry Kane.

“He is really something else,” Guimarães said. “We have to mark and attack. We do have to attack, but we got to make sure that somebody stays on him because with one ball he can decide the match and we don’t want to let him have it."

Feeling the heat

Since Norway joined Brazil practicing in New Jersey this week, each team has been subjected to the elements of the heat wave ravaging the East Coast. Solbakken said the temperatures being as high as 37 degrees Celsius (99 Fahrenheit) have meant players are not going at full speed but otherwise shook off the effects.

“It's an incredible heat, but we are still full of energy,” Solbakken said. “This is a group of friends who have spent a lot of time together now, and they are in a great mood. We haven’t noticed the heat at all, actually.”

Guimarães expects the heat to be a factor Sunday, though rain is expected overnight, cooling things down to a high temperature of 85 degrees (29.44 Celsius) and there is a chance of rain and thunderstorms.

Lucas Paquetá, who limped off at halftime and exited the round of 32 game against Japan, is not expected to play because of a hamstring injury.

“We do not have anyone else on the team with the same characteristics of Lucas Paquetá, so we'll have to find someone else,” Ancelotti said, while declining to reveal his plan.

Norway defender Julian Ryerson is a candidate to return after leaving early in the game against Senegal on June 22 with injury. He has not played since, and Solbakken similarly was coy about his lineup other than to say to expect Alexander Sørloth and Oscar Bobb to each play at some point.

France arrived in Philadelphia ‌with the swagger of World Cup heavyweights and left looking like they had spent the afternoon wrestling a cactus, grinding out a narrow victory over Paraguay in sweltering conditions.

Their win was less a showcase of French elegance than a survival exercise, with Kylian Mbappe's penalty finally settling an ill-tempered contest that Paraguay had dragged into their preferred territory of physical confrontation and tactical disruption.

Paraguay offered something France rarely face: tight man-marking, bodies around the wingers and just enough fouls, fussing and provocation to make the favorites twitch.

It almost worked.

Rarely do Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise look so short of rhythm. France ‌are used ‌to facing zonal blocks, rehearsed pressing traps and neat ‌defensive ⁠lines.

Paraguay instead turned ⁠the match into a series of physical personal duels, doubling up wide and denying the French attackers the time and angles they usually bend to their will.

The first half told the story, with France failing to create a clear-cut chance before the break.

Paraguay keeper Orlando Gill was required only to deal with a harmless low effort from Adrien Rabiot, while the excellent Matias Galarza ⁠and Andres Cubas closed central spaces and gave France ‌little comfort.

Miguel Almiron and Julio Enciso also ‌gave Paraguay just enough menace to make France center-backs William Saliba and Dayot ‌Upamecano work, even if that threat often came from scraps rather than ‌structure.

Yet Paraguay's plan carried a fatal flaw that became more glaring as the heat intensified. Their defensive approach came with almost no counter-attacking mechanism beyond long balls into space.

That left Enciso chasing hopeful passes while teammates sank deeper. It was containment ‌without release, resistance without a pressure valve.

Against a side of France's quality, that is a dangerous way to ⁠live. Eventually, their ⁠depth told when substitute Desire Doue forced a penalty and Mbappe converted, sending Gill the wrong way.

It was a brave Paraguay performance. Their resolve, similar to that shown in knocking out Germany on penalties, again made life miserable for a more decorated opponent.

Yet defending almost constantly in extreme heat, especially after an earlier extra-time ordeal, demanded perfection and one mistake was enough to cause their downfall.

For France, this served as a useful alarm bell. They found a way through, but not with authority. Paraguay tested their patience, their temperament and their ability to adapt to a style rarely seen in Europe.

Next come Morocco, comfortable winners over Canada, on Thursday, giving France little time to lick their Philadelphia battle wounds before another examination of their title credentials.

Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti said Raphinha is ready to play a part after returning from injury in Sunday's World Cup last-16 clash with Norway, but acknowledged his side would have to find a different solution to replace the injured Lucas Paqueta.

Raphinha returned to training on Friday after two weeks out with a hamstring injury sustained during Brazil's group-stage win over Haiti. The forward is not ready to start, Ancelotti said, but could feature from the bench against a Norway side led by Erling Haaland.

"Raphinha is progressing very well," Ancelotti told reporters on Saturday. "He is still not at 100%, but he is available to be ‌on the bench ‌and to be able to play a few minutes or be ‌useful ⁠at certain moments.

"He ⁠recovered very well and very quickly. We are very happy with this because Raphinha is a very, very important player for the team."

Brazil will be without Paqueta after the midfielder suffered a hamstring strain in their 2-1 win over Japan in the previous round, leaving Ancelotti to reshuffle his midfield.

"We don't have a player in the squad with Lucas Paqueta's quality, so we have to replace him with another player," Ancelotti said. "The characteristics are different. Danilo is different from Gabriel, who is different from ⁠Matheus Cunha and Ederson.

"I will choose the player based on our ‌game plan, obviously taking into account the strength of the ‌opponent, but also what is functional to the idea we want to implement tomorrow."

Raphinha's possible return, alongside ‌Neymar's availability, gives Brazil added experience and invention in attack as they seek a place ‌in the quarter-finals.

But Norway pose a formidable threat through Haaland, whose pace and power have made him one of the tournament's most feared forwards.

"Everyone knows Haaland," Ancelotti said. "I don't have to explain to my defenders how Haaland plays. They know him better than I do because they have played against him many times.

"We ‌are focused on preparing well for the match, obviously including Haaland’s characteristics, which we must take into account because he is a very, ⁠very dangerous forward."

Brazil midfielder ⁠Bruno Guimaraes said the key would be denying Haaland the service he needs to decide the match.

"We have to try to prevent the ball from reaching him," Guimaraes said. "We will be attacking, but there always has to be someone glued to him so we don't give him space, because we know that with just one ball he can decide a match."

Guimaraes expects Norway to target Brazil from set pieces in what he described as a potentially cagey contest.

"They will put a lot of balls into our box and, at every corner or free kick, they will give everything to try to score," he said. "We trained a lot during the week to neutralize their strengths. It is going to be a very difficult match."

Ancelotti said the prospect of knockout football always brought concern, but insisted his players were ready.

"I am worried, as usual," he said. "But worried does not mean anxious. I am confident. We improved, and I hope we can improve again tomorrow."

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