Solbakken to give Norway players two days off after big win over Iraq

[p]The Norwegians waited 28 years to return to football's biggest tournament, but there was little sign of stage fright, and ‌with their next Group I game not until June 22nd, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/solbakken-stale/pxok8eTM/"]Solbakken[/a] wants ‌his players to use their time wisely.[/p][p][b]"I think it will ‌be good for them to not see me the next two days," Solbakken told reporters.[/b][/p][p][b]"A lot of people, a lot of players will have ‌visits from their families. They can, of ⁠course, train if they want ‌to, but if they prefer to play a round of golf, they ​can do that.[/b][/p][p][b]"It's really good to have a break now. It has been really intense, and I think that ​everybody could feel that this was a big occasion and this is a tough tournament, and to be able to relax ⁠your brain and your ​body and to see your family, I think is a really good thing for them."[/b][/p][image alt="Iraq - Norway match momentum" id="438145d9-ac1b-4cf4-9117-a053bc7446ba" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="07abb1ee-b503-4c88-8c86-48470885f6e9" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]Haaland came into the tournament with plenty of responsibility and expectation on his shoulders, but he more than dealt ‌with the pressure on his World Cup debut.[/p][p][b]"He liked the occasion, he lived up to the occasion. The occasion wasn't too big for him," Solbakken said.[/b][/p][p][b]"I had a good feeling. Before the game, the two last training sessions with him have been very, very good, so I had a quite comfortable feeling that he would do it for us today."[/b][/p][p]Next for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/norway/8rP6JO0H/"]Norway[/a] is a meeting with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/senegal/hOIsJLJr/"]Senegal[/a], who lost 3-1 to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/france/QkGeVG1n/"]France[/a]. Solbakken ‌expects a tougher challenge in the two remaining group games, and ​is not listening to those who say that with three ‌points they could probably get out of the group stage.[/p][p][b]"There will be two teams that we will meet that are probably more at our level," he said.[/b][/p][p][b]"I looked at their match, and Senegal, they looked really solid during large ⁠periods of the first half. ⁠So that is what ‌we want to concentrate on."[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/iraq-K8aAGt6r/norway-8rP6JO0H/report/?mid=n9TEVLhA"]Read the report from the game with Flashscore.[/a][/p][infobox id="4ccc1b10-d68f-4c97-bcf4-5e613c17c2e3" /]