Mbappé and Haaland lead France, Norway to winning World Cup starts

Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland opened the World Cup with statements that reached beyond two opening wins. Mbappé’s double pushed France past Senegal 3-1, while Haaland’s two goals drove Norway to a 4-1 rout of Italy at San Siro, results that immediately sharpened expectations around two teams suddenly looking capable of a deep run.

Mbappé decided France’s debut in the 66th minute and again in stoppage time at 90+6, while Bradley Barcola added the other French goal in the 82nd minute. Senegal had briefly kept the contest alive through Ibrahim Mbaye’s goal at 90+5, but the final word belonged to Mbappé, who reached 58 goals for France and moved past Olivier Giroud to become the national team’s all-time leading scorer. France, the runner-up in Qatar 2022, is at the World Cup for the 17th time and has the kind of tournament pedigree that makes early control matter as much as the scoreline.

Norway’s first-night message was different in style but just as forceful. Haaland’s two goals in Milan helped end a 28-year absence from the World Cup, sending Norway back to the global stage for the first time since France 1998. It will be only Norway’s fourth appearance at the tournament, and the route there was built around Haaland’s production throughout qualifying, where he scored 16 times in eight matches.

The contrast between the two sides is already part of the intrigue. France arrived with depth, a proven tournament structure under Didier Deschamps and a frontline that can hurt opponents in multiple ways. Norway leaned more directly on Haaland’s finishing, but Ståle Solbakken’s team showed in Italy that one elite scorer, properly supported, can change the scale of a nation’s expectations almost overnight.

Their group-stage meeting on June 26 at Boston Stadium now carries even more weight. FIFA has highlighted the matchup as one of the most anticipated of the opening round, a collision of two of the game’s most feared forwards and two teams that have already turned one result into a broader statement about where they could be headed next.