FOXBOROUGH, June 26 -- The Group I final at Gillette Stadium is scheduled for this afternoon, and Didier Deschamps will not be there. He flew home to France after his mother died this week. His assistant Guy Stephan will run the technical area against Norway instead.

Both teams are already through. France and Norway each have six points from two commanding wins, and the only question this match settles is who finishes first and who meets a Group J opponent from the winner's side of the bracket rather than the runner-up's. That is not a trivial distinction. The seeding affects the knockout path into the Round of 32 and beyond. But Deschamps made his calculation and it did not come out in football's favour.

The French Football Federation ...