The final round of Group I matches at the 2026 World Cup pits Norway against France in what is one of the most eagerly anticipated group stage games, further hyped by the sensational goalscoring form of Golden Boot contenders Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.
The forwards will face off at 8pm (UK time) on Friday night as their countries, Norway and France, go head-to-head for Group I glory. Meanwhile, Senegal and Iraq tussle in Toronto, both needing a win to potentially put them in contention to progress as one of the best eight third-placed teams.
Here are the key World Cup 2026 stats ahead of the two games.
Key stats in Group I
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Norway vs France
- Norway key stat: Erling Haaland is enjoying a 12 game scoring streak for Norway, who are on a 12 game winning run in competitive games.
- France key stat: Two more goals for Kylian Mbappe (16) would see him draw level with Lionel Messi as the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer on 18 goals.
What a cracker we have here as Norway and France battle in Boston for the chance to win Group I. Norway need to win to do this, while France can afford to draw. Whatever happens, both countries have already booked their places in the last-32.
Not content with being France’s new all-time scorer and the country’s all-time World Cup scorer, Kylian Mbappe is now chasing down Lionel Messi’s new record of 18 World Cup goals, which the Argentine set in his last game.
Mbappe, currently tied on 16 goals (in 16 games) with Miroslav Klose, will equal Mesi’s record should he continue his trend of scoring a brace in each game at this year’s tournament, having scored two against both Senegal and Iraq. Meanwhile, a hat-trick against Norway will see him set a new outright record of 19 goals.
If Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick in the 2022 final, does score two (or more) goals against Norway he will become only the second player ever to score 2+ goals in four consecutive World Cup games after Hungary’s Sandor Kocsis in 1954.
Meanwhile, France manager Didier Deschamps (16 wins) has the chance to create a new World Cup record of 17 match wins as a manager, having equalled Helmut Schon’s tally of 16 in the win over Iraq.
Over in the opposite corner we have fellow Golden Boot contender Erling Haaland, who has enjoyed a stunning start to his first ever World Cup.
A brace in wins over Iraq and Senegal has seen Haaland become Norway’s new all-time record scorer at World Cups with double the tally of any other player. He was already the club’s all-time scorer – 59 goals in 52 games – and is enjoying a 12-game scoring streak for his country.
In fact, Norway have won each of their last 12 competitive matches en route to reaching the World Cup knockout stages for the first time since 1998.
Senegal vs Iraq
- Senegal key stat: Ismaila Sarr (currently on three goals) needs one more goal to become Senegal’s all-time goalscorer at World Cups.
- Iraq key stat: Should they lose, Iraq would equal the unwanted World Cup record held by El Salvador and Haiti of six consecutive defeats from their first six World Cup matches.
Senegal and Iraq can no longer finish in the top-two in Group I as they are each on zero points. However, all hope is not lost just yet. A win for one of the countries in this match-up will see them finish in third on three points which – depending on other groups – could just be enough to squeeze into the knockout stages as a best third-place finisher.
For Iraq to do this, they need to create history by winning their first ever World Cup match, having lost all five games to date across two tournaments. Another defeat here would see them match the unwanted record of El Salvador and Haiti, who have both also lost all six of their World Cup games.
Senegal have had a taste of the knockout stages twice before, reaching the quarter-finals in their first World Cup 20 years ago, then the last-16 in 2022. In three previous World Cups they’ve never not won a match, which is a possibility this time around.
Ismaila Sarr bagged a brace in Senegal’s 3-2 defeat to Norway to take his overall World Cup tally to three goals – he also scored four years ago – meaning he now just needs one more goal to surpass Papa Bouba Diop as his country’s all-time leading scorer at World Cups.
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