Dembele’s first-half hat-trick sends France top of Group I in 4-1 win over Norway

France needed only a point to win Group I, and Ousmane Dembele turned the formality into a statement. The forward scored three times inside the opening 32 minutes against Norway in Foxborough, and Desire Doue added a fourth deep in stoppage time as France closed their group stage with a 4-1 win and a perfect record.

A hat-trick before the half-hour

Dembele had the ball in the net inside seven minutes and never let Norway settle. He made it 2-0 on 20 minutes, and although Thelo Aasgaard pulled one back a minute later to briefly suggest a contest, the response was almost immediate. Dembele completed his treble in the 32nd minute, all three goals landing before the interval. Finishing a hat-trick that early puts him among the fastest scorers of three in World Cup history, and it shoved him straight into the Golden Boot conversation with the knockout rounds still to come.

Kylian Mbappe started and carried plenty of the threat, but on this night the headlines belonged to his club team-mate. Doue’s late finish rounded off the scoring in the fourth minute of added time, a tidy end to an evening France controlled from the first whistle.

Norway rest their big names

The build-up had been sold as Mbappe against Erling Haaland, the two most talked-about strikers in the group sharing a pitch. It never materialised. Norway had already secured their place in the last 32 and manager Stale Solbakken treated the game accordingly, leaving Haaland and captain Martin Odegaard on the bench and making a raft of changes. Jorgen Strand Larsen led a much-changed attack, with Oscar Bobb and Andreas Schjelderup in support, and Aasgaard’s strike was the one moment that went their way.

Solbakken will not lose much sleep over the manner of the defeat. His priority was a fresh squad for the round of 32, and resting two of his most important players with qualification already banked was the sensible call. Norway go through as runners-up, France as winners, and both arrive at the knockout stage with their key men available.

France set the standard

Nine points from three games, ten goals scored and only two conceded is the kind of group stage that announces a genuine contender. Didier Deschamps has options across the pitch, and the fact that Dembele can produce a first-half hat-trick on a night when Mbappe does not score tells its own story about France’s depth. They top Group I and will fancy their chances against whoever emerges from the third-placed pool.

For Norway, a first World Cup in decades has already delivered knockout football. Haaland and Odegaard return refreshed, and the rotation that cost them on the scoreline may yet prove its worth when the games become single-elimination.

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