Vinay Kumar
Experience changes everything. In his younger days, Portugal manager Roberto Martínez would have stressed over finishing first in his World Cup group.“You sit down and you are so inexperienced, you want to plan everything,” Martinez admitted. Now managing in his third tournament, he has learned that ultimate plans rarely survive reality. He is far from alone in that realization.Norway manager Stale Solbakken put theory into practice on Saturday, deliberately prioritizing rest and load management over an all-out assault to win Group I against tournament favorites France. Sitting out superstar striker Erling Haaland alongside nine other regular starters, a depleted Norway side suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat. Yet, with a crucial Round of 32 clash looming against Ivory Coast on Tuesday, Solbakken expressed zero coaching regrets.“A complete no-brainer”“The break that we had from the last game to this game is the shortest of any team, and we have another match in just a couple of days, so it’s a no-brainer,” Solbakken explained. “Fans around Norway and also in the arena would have liked to see Erling, but that is not really the issue here. We want to proceed as long as we can here in the tournament.”The tactical defeat sends Norway to Arlington, Texas, to play Ivory Coast. The winner of that tie will move on to the Round of 16 to meet either Brazil or Japan. Meanwhile, an undefeated France team, buoyed by a clinical first-half hat-trick from Ousmane Dembele, heads to East Rutherford, New Jersey, to face a likely opponent in Sweden, with a potential heavyweight block against Germany waiting down the line.France assistant coach Guy Stéphan, standing in for Didier Deschamps following the passing of Deschamps’ mother, wasn’t caught off guard by Norway’s sweeping lineup changes. “We will see the result in four days,” Stéphan remarked.Calculated risks vs. momentumOther elite tacticians are weighing their strategies differently. Martinez wants his Portugal side to maintain a perfect winning habit ahead of their Group K closer against Colombia, even though Portugal’s ticket to the Round of 32 is virtually secured.“I believe that the focus should be trying to win every game, trying to create the best possible atmosphere in your dressing room, forget about the opponent,” Martinez stated. “Respect the opponent, but if you want to do well in the tournament, you have to be able to beat everybody and anybody.”Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo remains wary of calculating exact routes, warning that trying to manipulate tables can backfire. Meanwhile, Spain boss Luis de la Fuente has completely ignored the bracket mathematics since day one. “I can’t approach a match thinking about winning, losing or drawing. I only know how to prepare to win, win and win,” De la Fuente insisted. “To reach the final you have to play against all the great teams.“
