Dembele's quickfire treble powers France to 4-1 World Cup win over second-string Norway

FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts: Ousmane Dembele scored a hat-trick as his ruthless already-qualified France side claimed top spot in World Cup Group I with a 4-1 win over second-string Norway on Friday (Jun 26).

The winger scored three times in the space of 25 minutes in the first half to send the 2018 world champions and 2022 runners-up into the knockout phase of this year’s tournament with a spring in their step.

The France players had promised to go for a win as a tribute to coach Didier Deschamps who has flown home from the United States to attend the funeral of his mother.

Les Bleus - like Norway - had made sure of a place in the Round of 32 before Friday's clash but wanted to top the group 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.

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 once again to score with a dipping shot.

Norway pulled a goal back almost immediately through Thelo Aasgaard before Dembele became only the third France player to score a World Cup hat-trick – after Just Fontaine 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.

"This is a unique and important moment for me. But I preferred how I played against Senegal or against Iraq," Dembele claimed after his hat-trick, becoming only the fourth France player to do so at a World Cup.

"I think I was much more influential in those games, so I think we need to stay fully concentrated because we have important things ahead of us."

"He had a great game. It's good for us. It's great to have a player like that who can make the difference," France defender Maxence Lacroix said of Dembele.

His interchanging of positions with Michael Olise between the right wing and the number 10 role is proving a real headache for opponents, and France's attacking arsenal is frightening.

"Their front four is the best in the competition by far," said Norway coach Stale Solbakken.

Apart from Mbappe's strikes, France's other goals at this World Cup have all come from PSG players: Dembele, Doue and Bradley Barcola.

"That can only be positive," said assistant coach Guy Stephan, as France prepare to face a third-placed team in New Jersey in the last 32 next Tuesday.

"These are players who have not stopped winning things in the last two years. They can take players on, score goals, set up goals. It is a big plus for us."

By finishing top of Group I, France are likely to meet Sweden in the first knockout round of the tournament. As runners-up, Norway will play Ivory Coast.