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Norway Faces Ivory Coast in World Cup Round of 32
Norway meets Ivory Coast on Tuesday in the round of 32 at Dallas Stadium. Norway enters as favorites after finishing second in its group behind France. Ivory Coast also placed second in its group, behind Germany.
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Norway and Ivory Coast meet Tuesday in the round of 32 at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The match kicks off at noon local time. Norway reached the knockout stage for the first time since 1998 after finishing second in Group I. The team recorded a 4-1 win over Iraq, a 3-2 win over Senegal and a 4-1 loss to France.
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Ivory Coast also advanced as runners-up, placing second in Group E on head-to-head record behind Germany. The side defeated Ecuador 1-0, lost 2-1 to Germany and beat Curacao 2-0.
Norway has scored eight goals across its three group matches. A forward who netted four times in two appearances leads the attack and is among the leading Golden Boot candidates. Ivory Coast conceded just three minutes and twenty-nine seconds of trailing time during the group stage.
The side has spread its scoring across multiple players, with one forward contributing two goals and two others adding one each.
The winner will face Brazil in the round of 16. Brazil defeated Japan on Monday to advance. This is the first meeting between the two nations. Norway holds a strong historical record against African opponents, losing only two of nineteen encounters.
Opta’s model gives Norway a 56.1 percent chance of winning in regulation time and Ivory Coast a 21.6 percent chance, with a 22.3 percent probability of extra time. Norway is expected to line up in a 4-3-3 formation. Ivory Coast is projected to use a 4-1-4-1 system.
“I think that spreading the goals around is a real strength of ours, which we can use to catch our opponents off guard and be a threat from all over the pitch, including players coming off the bench to make a telling contribution.”
