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The Group I of the reaches its decisive day this Friday with two simultaneous matches taking place at 15:00 Cuba time: France vs. Norway at Gillette Stadium in Boston and Senegal vs. Iraq at BMO Field in Toronto.
Both European teams have already secured their tickets to the round of 32, but the group leadership is still up for grabs.
France has accumulated six points with a goal difference of +5, while Norway also has six points but with +4, which means that even a draw would be enough for Les Bleus to finish first.
Erling Haaland has been one of the standout players of the tournament so far, with four goals that place him as the top scorer in Group I and among the leaders in the overall standings, tied with Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior, all behind Lionel Messi, who leads the ranking with five goals.
Despite Norway's excellent performance — a 4-1 thrashing of Iraq and a 3-2 victory over Senegal — Haaland himself acknowledged the superiority of the opponent at the end of the last match: "Honestly, I don't really care right now. They are probably going to beat us, and they are going to win the tournament," said the Manchester City forward.
France, led by Didier Deschamps since 2012, arrives at the match with a significant off-field factor.
The coach left the training camp on June 24 following the death of his mother and returned to France to be with his family, so his long-time assistant, Guy Stéphan, will take over as the team's head coach for the match against Norway.
Deschamps is expected to rejoin the team for the knockout stage, which the French will begin on June 30.
Mbappé, with four goals in two matches—including a brace in the 3-1 victory over Senegal and another in the 3-0 win against Iraq—will remain the offensive reference for a team that arrives as the clear favorite for the clash.
In the other match, Senegal faces its last chance in the tournament with zero points and no margin for error.
The Lions of Teranga, regarded as one of the most talented African teams, have disappointed with two consecutive defeats against France and Norway and need to win against Iraq while hoping for favorable results in other groups to secure a place among the eight best third-placed teams in the tournament.
Iraq has also not earned a single point: it lost 4-1 to Norway and 3-0 to France, so it also needs an extraordinary result to stay alive in the competition.
In the expanded format of the 2026 World Cup, with 48 teams divided into 12 groups, the top two from each group advance directly along with the eight best third-placed teams, completing 32 teams in the round of 64.
The classification of the best third-placed teams is determined by points, goal difference, goals scored, fair play, and FIFA ranking, making Senegal's victory a necessary but not sufficient condition to advance in the tournament.
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