Ousmane Dembele scored one of the fastest hat-tricks in World Cup history as the Ballon d’Or winner helped France beat second-placed Norway 4-1, with Erling Haaland watching on from the bench.
Paris Saint-Germain forward Dembélé opened the scoring in the seventh minute at Boston Stadium on Friday, scored again in the 20th minute and made it 3-1 in the 32nd minute after Thero Asgaard pulled one back.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The only player to score a hat trick early in a World Cup match was Erich Probst, who scored three goals in the first 24 minutes for Austria against Czechoslovakia in 1954.
Dembele also scored in Monday’s 3-0 win over Iraq, taking him to four goals in this competition, and his performance here will likely take some of the pressure off France’s constant winner Kylian Mbappé, his captain.
Désir Douet scored a late goal and the victory meant France finished the group stage with a maximum of nine points. France advanced as Group I winners, scoring 10 goals in three games.
France will now remain in the Northeastern United States and will play the third-place team in the last 32 next Tuesday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
It was an emotional day for Les Bleus, who had to play the match without coach Didier Deschamps after returning to France to attend his mother’s funeral. Deschamps will step down at the end of the World Cup after 14 years in charge, but is expected to rejoin the team on Saturday.
Norway, who also saw Jorgen Strand Larsen’s penalty save, moved up to second place with six points and had already booked their place ahead of this game thanks to wins over Iraq and Senegal.
This also explains why coach Starre Solbakken made 10 changes to his starting XI after the 3-2 win against Senegal last time out.
Haaland and Odegaard rested
Haaland, captain Martin Odegaard and striker Alexander Sorloth were among the players rested, with only Benfica’s Fredrik Olsnes remaining.
There is no doubt that the regulars will be back in the next round, with Norway facing Ivory Coast in Dallas next Tuesday.
France lost Arsenal defender William Saliba due to a lower back injury, so Crystal Palace’s Maxence Lacroix took his place. Duet, Theo Hernandez and Aurélien Choameny all returned.
However, both Dembele and Mbappe will remain in the standings, with the latter aiming to win his 101st cap and take his tally to 16 World Cup goals to equal Lionel Messi’s 18 in the competition.
However, Dembele, Mbappe’s teammate on the France team that won the 2018 World Cup, stole the show with a stunning hat-trick.
Mbappe released the 29-year-old for the opener, and Dembele cut in from the right, dropped his shoulder, returned with his right foot and fired a shot past goalkeeper Egil Selvik.
Dembele transformed into a Ballon d’Or winner after PSG coach Luis Enrique moved him from the wing to a central role.
But here he caused havoc with an attack from the right, cutting into the infield and scoring his second goal with a low, left-footed shot into the top corner.
Rangers’ Asgaard pulled one back straight from the restart with a low shot past goalkeeper Mike Maignan as the French defense switched off.
However, Dembele curled his team’s third goal again with his left foot, this time from inside the area, but into the same bottom corner.
Three goals in 25 minutes in the first half is not the fastest hat-trick in a World Cup, but the record is held by Hungary’s Laszlo Kiss, who took less than eight minutes to score against El Salvador in 1982.
But Dembele is now part of an illustrious squad. The only French players to score a hat-trick in this competition are Juste Fontaine (twice in 1958) and Mbappé, who scored three goals in the 2022 final.
Norway could have pulled one back early in the second half after Oskar Bobb was tripped in the area by Hernandez, but Strand Larsen’s spot-kick missed and was saved by Megnan.
Douai then headed France’s fourth goal in stoppage time.
Dembele, who scored a hat-trick, said it was an important game for France to win as they hope to finish top of the group.
“We want to win every game and stay focused, because what happens next is even more important,” he told reporters after the game.
France national team assistant coach Guy Stephan said the team was thinking of Deschamps and was looking forward to him rejoining the squad on Saturday.
“As for the game, we did what we had to do. We had a lot of fun playing, we had plenty of intensity and we had a lot of chances,” he said.
“That being said, there were moments where we weren’t at our best, so we need to iron those out.”
Senegal defeats Iraq 10-a-side 5-0, keeping hopes of advancing to finals tournament alive
Substitute Pape Gueye scored two sensational goals from long range in the second half as Senegal extended their long-awaited goal difference with a 5-0 win over Iraq 10-a-side in their final Group I game on Friday.
Ismaila Sarr added his third goal of the tournament, the first of Teranga Lions’ four goals after half-time. The Lions finished third in their group and are vying for one of eight third-place spots in the Round of 32.
Currently, they are in 5th place among the 3rd place teams with a goal difference of +2, but 4 of the teams below them have yet to play their final group game.
Habib Diarra took the lead in the 4th minute, tied at 11-11, and Iliman Ndiay equalized with his own long-range shot in the 82nd minute.
Iraq was eliminated from the World Cup for the second time since 1986.
