Norway riding high after 3-1 win over rivals Sweden ahead of World Cup

OSLO – Norway signed off their World Cup preparations on home soil with a resounding 3-1 win over neighbours Sweden on June 1, as the country rides the crest of a sporting wave not normally seen outside of the Winter Olympics.

With star striker Erling Haaland watching from the stands, Jorgen Strand Larsen scored either side of a cracker from winger Antonio Nusa as the hosts raced into a 3-0 first-half lead. A second-half goal for the Swedes from Alexander Isak did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the home fans as they look forward to their first men’s World Cup Finals in 28 years.

“I feel like we just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing for a long time now, just keep enjoying ourselves and it will be fun soon,” a beaming Nusa said after the final whistle.

On May 31, sports-mad Norwegians saw their ice hockey team stun Canada to secure the bronze medal at the world championship in Zurich for the nation’s best finish in the tournament and that squad were honoured at half-time on a grey evening in Oslo that still sparkled with sporting joy.

Before the game, Norway players were shown a video message from cross-country skiing legend Petter Northug, whose entire glittering career was one long rivalry with the Swedes, with the Norwegian emerging victorious more often than not.

“Make me proud. Humble them. Incite them. It’s okay to be a little on the edge,” the 40-year-old said in the video and the players took him at his word.

“When the king speaks – he who has beaten Sweden so many times – you just have to follow up,” defender Leo Ostigard said.

The Norwegians brushed aside the stumbling Swedes and will face Morocco in a friendly in New Jersey on June 7 before beginning their World Cup campaign in Group I, which will pit them against Iraq, Senegal and France.

For Graham Potter’s Sweden, who will contest in Group F against Tunisia, Japan and the Netherlands, the game was a forgettable one as they repeatedly fluffed their lines, but they got some comfort from an unlikely source.

“Nobody will remember this game if Sweden go further than Norway in the World Cup. This was a friendly,” Northug told Swedish newspaper Sportbladet, for once declining to twist the knife into his Swedish rivals.

Meanwhile, the fitness and form of Belgium’s top scorer Romelu Lukaku pose no concerns as they prepare for the World Cup, coach Rudi Garcia insisted on the eve of their warmup clash against Croatia, which kicked off after press time on June 2.

The 33-year-old striker was included in the Belgian squad despite playing just over an hour of competitive football in the 2025-26 season.

Lukaku did not start for Italian club Napoli, making seven substitute appearances and netting a goal at Hellas Verona in a league game in March, and has been in Belgium since that month to rehabilitate from a hamstring injury.

But his role as the country’s leading scorer, with 89 goals in 124 appearances, saw Garcia gamble on his fitness and the coach is pleased with his decision.

“I’ve never seen a player as motivated as he is,” he told a press conference on June 1. “I’m not worried about Romelu’s injury, but he has played very little.

“He is better than I expected and scores a lot in training. But it’s also logical that he’s not yet ready to start. He is still a long way from being able to play 90 minutes, but he could come on as a substitute.”

There was a similar sentiment about the Netherlands’ own all-time top scorer Memphis Depay, who said he never doubted he would make his country’s World Cup squad despite concerns he would not be fit in time.

The 32-year-old, who has scored 55 goals for the Dutch national team and competed at the 2014 and 2022 World Cups, returned to action last week for his Brazilian club Corinthians after a thigh injury kept him out since March.

“I never really doubted that I would make it. My recovery took longer than it should have, that’s true. A few things didn’t go as they should have, which I don’t want to go into now, but I always knew it would work out. The injury wasn’t that serious after all,” said Depay

But there was less positive news for 2022 finalists France, with ESPN reporting on June 1 that Arsenal defender William Saliba is “very doubtful” for their World Cup opener against Senegal on June 16 due to a back injury.

The 25-year-old centre-back underwent scans on June 1 to determine the extent of his injury, but the fear is he could miss the entire tournament, per the report.

He injured his back in May and did not play in Arsenal’s Champions League final defeat by Paris Saint-Germain on May 30.

REUTERS