OUSMANE Dembele completed a hat-trick in 32 minutes tonight as France defeated an understrength Norway side 4-1 to finish top of Group I at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Pre-match hopes that this game would be an epic showdown between Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe were quashed as Norway manager Stale Solbakken made 10 changes after two group victories, including resting Manchester City forward Haaland, who has four goals in the tournament along with Mbappe.
But into the narrative void stepped Dembele, who delivered the second-fastest men’s World Cup hat-trick ever with three goals of the purest quality.
It was the first time a player had scored three goals in the opening half of a match in the tournament since Russia’s Oleg Salenko against Cameroon in 1994.
And it was the second-quickest World Cup hat-trick ever from the start of a match, behind Erich Probst’s 24-minute treble in 1954 for Austria against Czechoslovakia.
France were led by assistant coach Guy Stephan, with boss Didier Deschamps having returned home following the death of his mother.
They completely dominated the early stages and deservedly broke through in the seventh minute.
Having won the ball in Norway’s half, Mbappe spread it wide right to Dembele in space. The Ballon d’Or winner squared up his marker and slammed home past Egil Selvik.
It was 2-0 in the 20th minute when Dembele completed a lightning counter-attack by cutting off the right-hand side on to his wizardly left foot and whipped a curling shot into the far corner.
Norway struck back within 79 seconds, the French defence declining to respond to an attack straight from the kick-off which ended in Rangers attacker Thelo Aasgaard sweeping the ball past a wrong-footed Mike Maignan.
But Dembele was far from done, as he moved himself into contention as the tournament’s top scorer with his fourth goal.
Again he cut on to his left foot and, with four surrounding defenders paralysed by fear, curled another effort past Norway reserve keeper Selvik.
Strand Larsen had a poor penalty saved at the start of the second half, after Oscar Bobb was brought down by Theo Hernandez, while Bobb himself also had an effort stopped by France keeper Maignan when found unmarked in the box.
Also tonight, Senegal boosted their chances of reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup with a 5-0 victory against 10-man Iraq.
The Lions of Teranga finished third in Group I with three points to climb to fifth among third-placed teams, but they will still need results elsewhere to go their way to secure a place in the last 32.
Senegal played a near-perfect game in Toronto as they looked to bounce back from defeats by France and Norway, and the result pushed Scotland down to ninth in the table of third-placed sides – with eight to advance to the next round.
Fast-starting Senegal opened the scoring after only four minutes. Abdoulaye Seck’s header from a corner took a decisive deflection off Sunderland midfielder Habib Diarra on its way past Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basil.
Iraq’s problems were compounded nine minutes later when referee Anthony Taylor sent off defender Rebin Sulaka for pulling down Sadio Mane at the edge of the penalty area – deeming it denial of a goalscoring opportunity after a video assistant referee (VAR) review.
Mane tested Basil from the resulting free-kick, but Pape Thiaw’s side, who needed goals to improve their goal difference and thereby their chances of progressing to the next stage, failed to register another shot on target in the first half.
But they capitalised on former Manchester United midfielder Zidane Iqbal giving away possession at the edge of the box as Lamine Camara cut the ball back for Ismaila Sarr to apply a simple finish to make it 2-0 in the 56th minute.
Their lead was extended three minutes later as Pape Gueye curled a left-foot strike into the top corner – his first involvement after coming on moments earlier.
Villarreal defensive midfielder Gueye added his second goal with another thunderous effort in the 71st minute before fellow substitute Iliman Ndiaye sealed the 5-0 win, that they would hope will be enough to send them through to the knockout stage.
BBC Sport
