NEW YORK: Senegal face a defensive conundrum as they prepare to play Norway and their prolific striker Erling Haaland at the World Cup on Monday.

Captain Kalidou Koulibaly returned from injury for Senegal’s opening Group ‘I’ game against France but was found wanting up against Kylian Mbappe and could be dropped as coach Pape Bouna Thiaw looks to counter the threat of Haaland at the New York/New Jersey Stadium.

Senegal have been touted as Africa’s best hope at the World Cup but had their confidence knocked by a 3-1 loss to France in their opening game.

Norway, in contrast, made a winning start in their first World Cup game since 1998, with Haaland netting twice in a 4-1 victory over Iraq in Boston.

How best to deal with Haaland will have given Thiaw plenty to ponder, particularly whether to persist with Koulibaly or replace him with 20-year-old Mamadou Sarr.

When Koulibaly was suspended at the African Cup of Nations finals in Morocco, Sarr stepped in and impressed before joining Chelsea.

At Stamford Bridge, however, he was usually named among the substitutes and his lack of game time over the last months counted against him when Thiaw finalised the line-up to face France.

The 35-year-old Koulibaly, who has won 104 caps, had played only eight minutes since suffering an injury in training at his Saudi club in April and was well off the pace as Mbappe scored twice to earn France a deserved victory.

A win for Norway would guarantee them progress to the last 32, but their build-up has not been without concerns either.

Domestic media criticism of Martin Odegaard’s performance against Iraq was batted away by his team-mates in the build-up to the match, while coach Stale Solbakken has also said he was not happy with aspects of their performance against Iraq, particularly defence.

Norway, who had a 100% qualification record but won only one of four World Cup warm-up friendlies, have kept a single clean sheet in their last eight matches and will be wary of the threat posed by Senegal forwards Nicolas Jackson and Sadio Mane.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2026