Ødegaard carries Norway into a World Cup that echoes 1994

Iraq on Tuesday, then France

Your World Cup opener is Tuesday against Iraq. That is the only thing that matters right now. France loom later in Group I (1), but Iraq comes first, and the tournament previews are already drawing a line back to 1994 (2).

The class of '94 comparison

Lars Bohinen remembers 1994 with frustration. Norway qualified, then never got close to the level they showed in the qualifiers (2). The Guardian piece puts Ståle Solbakken's current side against that backdrop, a modern model, but the same question. Can you take it across the Atlantic and actually deliver? (2).

Ødegaard: frustrated season, now the spotlight

Martin Ødegaard arrives at the World Cup as Norway's main man, but his season was rough. "It has been frustrating. A complicated season," he told a press conference (3). Injuries disrupted his rhythm at Arsenal, and the national team's creative burden still falls heavily on him (3). The 1–1 draw with Morocco in New Jersey underlined it: Ødegaard scored the equalizer, and everything flowed through him.