Foxborough (US), Jun 27: Not so fast, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé. Ousmane Dembélé has just entered the Golden Boot race.
Dembélé scored a first-half hat trick, including one off a feed from Mbappé, to help France beat Norway 4-1 at the World Cup on Friday.
Dembélé’s goals came in the seventh, 20th and 32nd minutes. It was the first first-half hat trick at the World Cup since Russia forward Oleg Salenko scored three of his five goals in the opening 45 minutes against Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
“It is a unique moment,” Dembélé said. “But the most important was to finish first of the group in the group stage, and we are focused on the round of 32, which is the most important.”
France, which won the World Cup in 2018 and lost in the final four years ago, had already secured its place in the knockout round before Friday’s match. Norway was also assured of a spot in the round of 32 and ended up in second place in the group.
Désiré Doué scored France’s final goal in second-half injury time.
Dembélé said changing their approach in the final group match was never a consideration. France has 10 goals through three games.
“We want to win all our matches, but we remain focused,” Dembélé said.
The fastest World Cup hat trick took only 7 minutes, 42 seconds. Hungary striker Laszlo Kiss, who had come on as a substitute, managed that feat late in the match against El Salvador at the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
The quickest World Cup hat trick from the start of the match occurred at the 1954 tournament in Switzerland when Austria striker Erich Probst scored his three goals in the opening 24 minutes against Czechoslovakia.
Dembélé, who won Ballon d’Or as Europe’s top player in 2025 and has now scored four goals at this year’s World Cup, left the game in the 65th minute. He was replaced by Bradley Barcola.
Thelo Aasgaard got Norway on the scoreboard after Dembélé’s second goal, finding the back of the net only 14 seconds after the restart. But Dembélé added his third goal less than nine minutes later to push the lead back to two.
Dembélé increased his international goal total to eight while Mbappe now has 16 goals and four assists in 17 World Cup matches. He scored two goals in each of France’s wins over Senegal and Iraq.
Erling Haaland was among 10 regular starters absent from Norway’s starting lineup, presumably to rest. The wholesale changes included Egil Selvik starting in goal in place of Orjan Nyland.
Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said resting so many players was an easy decision for him.
“The break that we had from the last game to this game was the shortest of any team. … So it’s a no-brainer,” he said. “The fans around Norway and also in the arena would have like to see Erling. But that is not really the issue. We want to proceed as long as we can in the tournament.”
The Norwegians will next face Ivory Coast in the round of 32 on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas. France will play the same day against one of the eight best third-place finishers in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Mbappé nearly got France on the scoreboard only 21 seconds into the game. He sprinted up the right side and sent a hard shot that hit the crossbar beyond the outstretched arm of Selvik.
Dembélé was operating in space for his first goal when he took took a pass from Mbappé and blasted a right-footed shot across Selvik.
On the Paris Saint-Germain player’s second goal, Dembélé found space between three defenders at the top of the box and fired in a left-footer beyond Selvik’s diving save attempt.
Norway had a chance to close the gap back to one goal in the 49th when France defender Theo Hernandez was whistled for tripping Oscar Bobb in the box. But Jorgen Strand Larsen’s penalty shot toward the right corner was batted away by France goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Before the game, French fans in attendance displayed a banner reading “AVEC TOI DIDIER” (With you Didier), acknowledging France coach Didier Deschamps’ mother, Ginette Deschamps, who died this week. The coach missed the match against Norway on Friday because he was in France with family, leaving assistant Guy Stéphan in charge.
Stéphan said Deschamps would rejoin the team for its next training session on Saturday. (AP)
