Norway beat Côte d’Ivoire to reach the World Cup 2026 Round of 16

Norway have reached the Round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after defeating Côte d’Ivoire in the Round of 32.

The match in Dallas ended in a 2-1 victory for the Norwegians.

The first half was intense and entertaining. Côte d’Ivoire started brightly and caused Norway problems down the wings, but after the hydration break the Scandinavian side regrouped, took more control and began to stretch the Elephants’ defence.

Antonio Nusa opened the scoring. Norway put together a fine attacking move, the ball found Nusa on the edge of the box, and he curled a superb shot into the top corner.

After the break, Côte d’Ivoire managed to get back into the game. Substitute Amad Diallo played a brilliant give-and-go with Nicolas Pepe, burst into the box, skipped past two Norwegian defenders and finished clinically to make it 1-1.

However, the decisive word belonged to Erling Haaland. After a clever pass from Oscar Bobb, Patrick Berg squared the ball into the centre of the box, where Haaland was perfectly placed to turn it home and restore Norway’s lead — 2-1.

Côte d’Ivoire came close to saving the match late on. In the 90+6th minute, Amad Diallo struck a dangerous free-kick from around 25 metres, but Norway goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland produced a brilliant fingertip save to preserve his team’s victory.

Norway are now through to the World Cup Round of 16, where they will face Brazil.