France forward Ousmane Dembele scored one of the earliest hat-tricks in World Cup history on Friday as the Ballon d’Or winner starred in France’s 4-1 win over a second-string Norway, while Erling Haaland watched on from the bench.
Paris Saint-Germain star Dembele opened the scoring in the seventh minute at Gillette Stadium near Boston, struck again in 20 minutes, and, after Thelo Aasgaard had pulled one back, made it 3-1 in the 32nd minute.
The only player to complete a hat-trick earlier in a World Cup match is Erich Probst, who scored three inside the first 24 minutes for Austria against Czechoslovakia in 1954.
Dembele climbs on to four goals at the tournament after also scoring in the 3-0 win over Iraq on Monday, and his display here will perhaps ease some of the pressure on captain Kylian Mbappe to always be France’s match-winner.
Desire Doué completed the scoring late on, and the victory allowed France to end the group stage with the maximum nine points—they have scored 10 goals in three games and advance as Group I winners.
France will stay in the northeastern USA for a last-32 tie against a third-place finisher at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey next Tuesday.
Les Bleus, who had to play this match without coach Didier Deschamps after he returned to France to attend his mother’s funeral. Deschamps, who will step down at the end of the World Cup after 14 years in charge, is due back with his squad on Saturday.
Norway, which also witnessed Jorgen Strand Larsen’s penalty saved, advances in second place with six points, their qualification having already been ensured prior to this match due to victories over Iraq and Senegal.
This clarifies why coach Stale Solbakken made 10 alterations to his starting eleven here after the 3-2 victory against Senegal previously.
Haaland, captain Martin Odegaard, and forward Alexander Sorloth were among those rested, while Benfica’s Fredrik Aursnes was the sole player kept.
The regulars will certainly be back in the next match, and Norway will face Ivory Coast in Dallas the following Tuesday.
France missed Arsenal defender William Saliba due to a sore back, leading to Maxence Lacroix of Crystal Palace stepping in for him. Doue, Theo Hernandez, and Aurelien Tchouameni have all come back.
Nonetheless, Dembele and Mbappe retained their positions, with the latter earning his 101st cap and aiming to increase his tally of 16 World Cup goals to challenge Lionel Messi’s overall tournament mark of 18.
Mbappe set up the 29-year-old for the quick first goal, as Dembele moved in from the right, feinted a shoulder, then reverted to his right foot and shot past goalkeeper Egil Selvik into the net.
Dembele became a Ballon d’Or winner after Luis Enrique, his PSG coach, shifted him from the wing to a central position.
Yet he wreaked havoc here, arriving from the right side, netting his second as he moved inside and curled a low shot with his left foot into the far corner.
Aasgaard, from Rangers, netted one right after the restart with a low shot beyond goalkeeper Mike Maignan as the French defense had momentarily relaxed.
Dembele bent in his team’s third, once more with his left foot and into the identical bottom corner, although this time from inside the box.
Three goals within the first 25 minutes of a half is not the quickest hat trick in World Cup history—that distinction belongs to Hungary’s Laszlo Kiss, who scored in under eight minutes against El Salvador in 1982.
Dembele now joins an esteemed group: the only prior French hat-tricks in the tournament were achieved by Just Fontaine (twice in 1958) and Mbappe, who scored three in the final of 2022.
Norway might have equalized early in the second half when Oscar Bobb was fouled in the box by Hernandez, but Strand Larsen’s penalty was weak, and Maignan saved it.
Doue subsequently scored France’s fourth during stoppage time.
