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FIFA World Cup — Match Report

Ousmane Dembélé hat trick powers France past rotated Norway

France rolled to a 4-1 win in Boston and emerged as winners of Group I as Ousmane Dembélé took over and as Norway rested many of its regular starters.

,   and  Matthew Mangam
4 min read
Dembélé counts out his goals scored vs Norway in Boston. Photo: @equipedefrance

It was supposed to be a showdown between Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland at Boston Stadium on Friday, but things went much differently than expected.

Instead, it was the Ousmane Dembélé show, as the Paris-Saint Germain forward scored a first-half hat trick in France's 4-1 win over a heavily-rotated Norway on Friday in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Mbappé still made his mark on the game, notching two assists and hitting the crossbar with a shot in the opening minute.

With the win, France finished at the top of Group I and will likely face Sweden in the Round of 32 at New York New Jersey Stadium on Tuesday, June 30. Norway, which was the runner-up in the group, will face Ivory Coast in Dallas, also on Tuesday, June 30.

GAME STATS

Norway: 1.69 xG, 10 shots, 4 shots on target, 43% possession, 420 passes, 82% pass accuracy, 9 fouls, 4 corners, 5 saves

France: 1.31 xG, 18 shots, 9 shots on target, 57% possession, 557 passes, 86% pass accuracy, 11 fouls, 5 corners, 3 saves

Goals:
• France, Ousmane Dembélé, 7'
France, Ousmane Dembélé, 20'
Norway, Theo Aasgaard, 21'
France, Ousmane Dembélé, 32'
France, Désiré Doué, 90'+4'

Attendance: 64,146

Norway rotates, France tweaks

With Norway's spot in the Round of 32 already confirmed, head coach Ståle Solbakken decided to rotate most of his side and bench 10 of the 11 starters from the 3-2 win over Senegal, including Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard.

Midfielder Fredrik Aursnes, who played just 45 minutes against Senegal, was the only player to keep his spot in the starting lineup. He slotted in at right-back in place of Julian Ryerson, who exited the Senegal game in the 13th minute after picking up a thigh injury.

France, which was without head coach Didier Deschamps following the death of his mother earlier this week, was led by assistant manager Guy Stéphan. His most notable change to the lineup was starting Maxence Lacroix in place of William Saliba, who has been dealing with a back injury since the start of the World Cup.

The only other three changes on the France side were Theo Hernández, Aurélien Tchouaméni, and Désiré Doué coming in for Lucas Digne, Adrien Rabiot, and Bradley Barcola, respectively.

Dembélé takes over

Just 19 seconds after kickoff, Mbappé came inches away from giving France the lead. Off a Norwegian turnover, Dembélé found Mbappé, who took it himself, firing a shot off the underside of the crossbar.

With France mounting heavy pressure, Les Bleus inevitably scored in the seventh minute. From the halfway line, Mbappé played a long diagonal pass to Dembélé, who dribbled into the box and found the left corner of goal. That was just the start of Dembélé's takeover, as 13 minutes later, he scored again.

While having his shirt pulled, Mbappé laid it off to Dembélé, whose strike nestled into the bottom-left corner. It was almost identical to the first goal; the only two differences were that he hit it with his left foot and that it came from outside the box.

Norway made things interesting with a goal immediately after conceding France's second, but ended up having no answer for Dembéle. He completed a first-half hat trick minutes later — the first time a player has scored a first-half hat trick since 1994 (Oleg Salenko for Russia vs Cameroon) and the third overall World Cup hat trick for France.

The third goal followed the same formula as the second: A left-footed strike in the bottom left corner. Dembéle's three goals in the first 32 minutes is the second-earliest a player has scored a World Cup hat-trick in a match, only behind Austria's Erich Probst's hat trick after 24 minutes of play against Czechoslovakia in 1954.

Dembélé didn't end up doing all of France's scoring on the day, with Désiré Doué putting a cherry on top of the big win by flicking in a header from a Bradley Barcola cross in the 94th minute.

France wins the group

Going into the tournament as one of the favorites, France was expected to top Group I despite facing tough teams like Senegal and Norway.

It wasn't the best of starts to the World Cup for France, playing a poor first half against Senegal despite winning 3-1. From that first half on, France has cruised to wins over Iraq and Norway, and will return to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for the Round of 32.

With Dembélé, Mbappé, Michael Olise, Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola, and more, France's attack is simply too much to handle. What could hold France back is its midfield and defense, which may face stiffer tests when coming up against other tournament favorites like Spain, England, and Argentina.

It's still early to predict, but it's clear that France has a good chance of reaching a third straight World Cup final and potentially lifting the trophy for the second time in the last three tournaments and third overall.

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