Norway Coach Climbs Into Stands to Kiss Wife After World Cup Win

Overview

• Norway beat Senegal 3-2 in New Jersey to secure a place in the World Cup last 16, a result that kept the team on course to contest group leadership in a match with France.
• Immediately after the final whistle, coach Ståle Solbakken climbed over barriers to embrace and kiss his wife Anniken in the stands, a moment captured on broadcast and widely shared online.
• Reports say Anniken was in the stadium for the match and that she and Solbakken will mark their 27th wedding anniversary on the day Norway meets France, a detail media used to underscore the personal angle of the celebration.
• Coverage has revisited Solbakken’s 2001 cardiac arrest in a Copenhagen tunnel, when club doctor Frank Odgaard said his heart stopped for minutes before he was resuscitated, after which Solbakken spent days in an induced coma, received a defibrillator and retired as a player at 33.
• Video and reports show the coach remained exuberant after the game, including a boisterous dressing-room moment that involved a cameraman, and the team’s advance raises attention to how Norway performs against France in the next group fixture.