World Cup takeaways from Norway-Iraq in Foxborough: Star power, field issues and a very large rowboat

On Jun 17, 2026

FOXBOROUGH — There was plenty of buzz in Foxborough on Tuesday as Norway and Iraq both made their first World Cup appearances of the 21st century.

Norway prevailed, 4-1, in a match that saw a superstar living up to the hype, multiple field issues with the grass surface in Foxborough, and Norway fans rowing one of the biggest imaginary boats the world has ever seen.

Here are takeaways from the second match in Foxborough:

Superstar power

After Friday’s Foxborough opener between Scotland and Haiti saw a smattering of different uniforms throughout the crowd, the concourses were filled with “Braut Haaland” jerseys on Tuesday.

Norwegian striker Erling Haaland was easily the highest-profile player to take the pitch at Gillette Stadium thus far. There was a massive pop for Haaland during warmups and it was easy to see why. The Manchester City star scored a pair of first-half goals, electrifying the crowd by burying a cross-field pass and later making Iraq pay for a sluggish pass with his second goal.

Norwegian midfielder Sander Berge called Haaland one of the most laid-back people he’s ever met, but believes something changes once the ball is kicked off.

“You can always see the hunger in him when it’s game time and there’s something at stake and he’s out there. He’s an animal,” Berge said. “He delivers all the time and he’s up there. He’s ready for any challenges.”

Least expensive way to the World Cup

This match was by far the cheapest of the tournament in Foxborough.

Tickets on resale websites dropped below $400 on Tuesday, while every other game is priced north of $1,000.

The get-in price for next week’s Norway-France game was $1,459 as of kickoff Tuesday night — and that might go up considering Haaland and Kylian Mbappé each scored two goals in their respective openers.

Fans bring the energy

It was a lively atmosphere once again and Norway’s fans made their voices heard. Starting an hour before kickoff, the Norwegians chanted all evening and their rowing throughout the match was a highlight.

Though outnumbered by the Norwegians, Iraq’s fans traveled well too. They were particularly juiced up when Aymen Hussein scored at the end where most of the Iraq supporters were sitting in the first half. It was Iraq’s second goal in World Cup history.

All told, there were 63,106 fans in attendance.

New grass issues

It wasn’t a totally smooth transition to natural grass in Foxborough. Norway coach Ståle Solbakken complained about the field conditions after his team’s 4-1 rout.

“It’s really dry — tinder dry — after five minutes, so all of the passes we want to pass through, wound up in duels,” he said according to a FIFA translation. “Iraq won many of those one-on-one duels so we didn’t get the flow in our play to play more directly.”

At halftime, things swayed too hard in the other direction. A sprinkler malfunction flooded the top of one of the boxes, right near the penalty kick area. As the water puddled, sand rose from underneath.

A groundskeeper sprinted over in an attempt to fix it and promptly skidded through the wet patch and thudded down on his butt. At one point, there were 14 people in the vicinity trying to dry the area.

Here’s a video of the sprinkler issue:

Water boys

Norway took full advantage of FIFA’s two new hydration breaks.

Haaland’s first goal came a minute after the mandated break in the first half, then three minutes after the second half break, Norwegian defender Leo Østigård headed in an insurance tally. Clearly, the Norwegians were making the most of the added stoppages.

“If you have a break, you need to be in the game immediately,” Iraq defender Merchas Doski said. “They scored that (Haaland) goal that was very fast for us.

“You saw it today: They were immediately in the game after the water breaks. That’s not acceptable. We also need to be also in the game after these breaks. I know it’s two breaks in the game. We need to be more focused after that.”

Breeze driving in

The MassLive car is taking the Goldilocks approach to Route 1 traffic.

After it took over 90 minutes to move 1.5 miles in absolute gridlock on Friday night, Tuesday’s drive in was a breeze — to the point where we arrived 15 minutes before the gates even opened at 1:45 p.m. Hopefully we’ll finally strike the balance just right for Friday’s tilt between Scotland and Morocco.

The Norwegian fanbase as pictured on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in Gillette Stadium during the Norway vs Iraq soccer game.

The Iraqi fanbase as pictured on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in Gillette Stadium during the Norway vs Iraq soccer game.

Iraq’s Ibrahim Bayesh goes up against Norway’s Erling Haaland during a World Cup match on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in Gillette Stadium.

Erling Haaland celebrates a goal against Iraq on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in Gillette Stadium.

Norway’s Ørjan Nyland as pictured during a World Cup match against Iraq on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Norway’s Martin Ødegaard holds his head after a narrow miss on Iraq’s goal during a World Cup match at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in Foxborough.

Scenes from the 2026 World Cup opener between Norway and Iraq on June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium.

Norway’s Erling Haaland celebrates a goal during a World Cup match against Iraq on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxobough.

Norway’s Martin Ødegaard as pictured during a World Cup match against Iraq at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in Foxborough.

Norway’s Erling Haaland celebrates a goal during a World Cup match against Iraq on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxobough.

Norway’s Alexander Sørloth as pictured during a World Cup match against Iraq on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Scenes from the 2026 World Cup opener between Norway and Iraq on June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium.

Norway’s Alexander Sørloth as pictured during a World Cup match against Iraq at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on Tuesday, June 16, 2026.

Norway’s Sander Berge as pictured during a World Cup match against Iraq on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Iraq’s Ibrahim Bayesh as pictured during a World Cup match against Norway on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Iraq’s Ibrahim Bayesh goes up against Norway’s Erling Haaland during a World Cup match on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Iraq’s Aymen Hussein and Norway’s Kristoffer Ajer as pictured during a World Cup match at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Iraq’s Ibrahim Bayesh and Norway’s Fredrik Aursnes as pictured during a World Cup match on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Norway’s Erling Haaland seen celebrating a goal against Iraq during a World Cup match on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Norway’s Julian Ryerson hits a free kick during a World Cup match against Iraq on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Norway’s Torbjørn Heggem and Iraq’s Aymen Hussein as seen during a World Cup match on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Scenes from the 2026 World Cup opener between Norway and Iraq on June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium.

Iraq’s Aymen Hussein as pictured during a World Cup match against Norway on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Scenes from the 2026 World Cup opener between Norway and Iraq on June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium.

Iraq’s Aymen Hussein as pictured during a World Cup match on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 against Norway at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Iraq’s Ali Al-Hamadi as pictured during a World Cup match against Norway on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Scenes from the 2026 World Cup opener between Norway and Iraq on June 16, 2026 at Gillette Stadium.

Read the original article on MassLive. Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Source link