Ballon d’Or holder, Ousmane Dembele, scored a first-half hat-trick as France made sure of top spot in 2026 FIFA World Cup Group I, after a ruthless 4-1 win against Norway who like the French had already qualified for the next round.
France went on the attack from the kickoff. Kylian Mbappe, who is likely to be challenging Haaland for the World Cup’s Golden Boot top scorer award, slammed an angled shot off the bar with barely 20 seconds on the clock.
Six minutes later Mbappe swept a glorious cross-field pass to Dembele who cut inside and then outside a defender before blasting an angled shot past goalkeeper Egil Selvik.
Mbappe fed Dembele again in the 20th minute and the Paris St Germain forward gained a yard of space against his marker to score with a dipping shot. 2-0!
Norway pulled a goal back almost immediately through Thelo Aasgaard, before Dembele became the third France player to score a World Cup treble – after Just Fontaine in the 1950s and Mbappe – by curling a low shot into the bottom corner in the 32nd.
It was the second-earliest hat-trick ever scored at a World Cup, behind Erich Probst who got three goals for Austria in 1954 against Czechoslovakia after 24 minutes.
Jorgen Strand Larsen blew a chance to get Norway back into the game early in the second half when his soft penalty was saved by Mike Maignan.
Winger Oscar Bobb forced Maignan into another save as the Scandinavians exposed some vulnerability in their opponents’ back line before Desire Doue got France’s fourth with a header from a cross by substitute Bradley Barcola in the dying moments.
Although France and Norway had made sure of a last-32 place before Friday’s clash, the French made it clear they wanted to come top to take advantage of a lighter travel schedule offered by the tournament’s North American criss-crossing route map.
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Their task was made easier by Norway coach Stale Solbakken’s decision to rest all but one of the players who started against Senegal earlier this week, including goal-scoring machine Erling Haaland and captain Martin Odegaard.
By taking first place in the group, France set up a meeting with Sweden in the first knockout round, while second-placed Norway will play Ivory Coast. Deschamps is due to return to the squad on Saturday to begin preparing for the next phase.
Latest World Cup results
Norway 1-4 France
Egypt 1-1 Iran
Cape Verde 0-0 Saudi Arabia
Uruguay Spain.
