Erling Haaland enjoyed a rare rest on Friday as Norway took on France in Boston, but he might not be thanking his manager. Stale Solbakken’s bold call to change 10 of his starting XI for Norway’s third group game put a pin in Haaland’s Golden Boot race for a few days, and gave a helping hand to one of his rivals as Ousmane Dembele scored a sublime hat-trick in France’s 4-1 win.
Not that Solbakken will lose any sleep over it. “I don’t care at all,” he said this week when asked about Haaland’s pursuit of an individual award and whether that might be jeopardised.
