Upamecano eager to face Haaland

Dayot Upamecano is excited about the opportunity to face Erling Haaland as France prepare to face Norway. Both teams have picked up six points from their first two matches, meaning this Friday's clash in Boston will decide who advances as winners of Group I. Haaland is in fine form, scoring four goals so far. Indeed, after scoring two goals against Iraq in the first round and two more against Senegal in the second, Haaland could become just the third player in World Cup history to score 2 or more goals in each of his first three games in the competition, after Guillermo Stabile of Argentina in 1930 and Sandor Kocsis of Hungary in 1954. Norway have now created 10 big chances, more than any other team in Group I, and have already surpassed the number of chances he had in his previous participation (nine in 1998).


But defender Upamecano is ready for the challenge and expects a physical test. He told L'Equipe: "With Haaland, you always need to keep an eye on him, watch where he is, and also keep an eye on the player with the ball, even if you're not outnumbered. When he's behind me, and one of his teammates makes a run down the wing, I know I'm going to have to take two or three looks to see where he's going, how he's positioning himself. We all know he's a very fast player, a bit like Kylian [Mbappé]. He just he needs a second to change direction. So you always need to keep an eye on him. But sometimes you need to know how to manage the game, force him to one side and close down his goal angle. He's not going to touch the ball 50 times, we all know that. He's going to want two or three touches, but he's going to play those two or three at 100%, so you need to be at 100%.

Upamecano, however, also highlighted that Haaland is not the only threat that France's defense must fear. "Haaland is an incredible player, but don't forget [Alexander] Sorloth, who I played with at RB Leipzig. [He's] very strong, very fast and shoots hard."

---

Related Articles

1. [Jude Bellingham Clash with Carlos Queiroz at World Cup 2026](https://pitchpulsemedia.com/en/news/jude-bellingham-clash-with-carlos-queiroz-at-world-cup-2026) 2. [World Cup 2026](https://azkalsgoal.com/fil/news/paano-panoorin-ang-world-cup-ngayon-iskedyul-oras-tv-at-streaming-para-sa-brazil-mexico-at-iba-pa)