Norway goal: Thelo Aasgaard (21) France goals: Ousmane Dembele (7, 20, 32), Doue (90+4)
France have won all three group games at a for the first time since first winning the trophy on home soil in 1998 – and they did so thanks to a historic hat-trick by Ousmane Dembele.
With both sides already qualified, the prize at stake in Boston was first place in the group, albeit the main talk beforehand was of a much-billed duel between Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. As it was, Haaland started and stayed on the bench as Norway made ten changes to their starting XI.
It was also a different France forward in Dembele, who stamped his mark on the match with the second-fastest World Cup hat-trick of all time.
Dembele has won UEFA Champions League titles with Paris Saint-Germain and collected the The Best FIFA Men's Player prize but he had not scored a major tournament goal until this week. Yet after breaking his World Cup duck against Iraq, he now has four on the world stage after this stunning treble.
With assistant coach in the absence of Didier Deschamps, France flew out of the blocks with Mbappe hitting the crossbar inside a minute. Mbappe’s crossfield ball then gave Dembele the opportunity to cut in from the right and, in trademark fashion, flash a shot into the far corner with his left foot for the opening goal.
His second was even more eye-catching as he found the same corner from outside the box. By the 32nd minute he had his hat-trick – the third of this tournament – by placing the ball yet again between goalkeeper Egil Selvik and his right-hand post.
It was not all one-way traffic. Norway's Jorgen Strand Larsen flashed a close-range shot over the crossbar. Then, straight from the kick-off after France’s second goal, Theo Aasgaard beat Dayot Upamecano with a dummy and drilled past a wrongfooted Mike Maignan.
Norway's hopes of a second-half comeback flickered briefly when Theo Hernandez fouled Oscar Bobb three minutes after the restart but Strand Larsen's tame spot-kick was saved comfortably by Maignan. Desire Doue put the icing on the cake for Les Bleus with a stoppage-time strike, his first of the global finals.
France will next face the third-placed team from Group C, D, F, G or H in the Round of 32, while Norway will take on Côte d’Ivoire.
Dembele’s hat-trick was the first in the first half of a World Cup match since Oleg Salenko’s 1994 treble for Russia against Cameroon. It is also the second-fastest World Cup treble of all time – the fastest was by Austria's Erich Probst inside 24 minutes against Czechoslovakia at the 1954 finals.
"First of all, our thoughts are with Didier [Deschamps]. We can't wait to have him back and he'll be with us at training tomorrow. As for the game, we did what we needed to do. There was a lot of enjoyment in the way we played, plenty of intensity and plenty of chances. We scored four goals. Ousmane got a hat-trick and Desire Doue scored the first headed goal of his career. Those are all positive things and we need to build on them. That said, there were also moments when we weren't quite at our best and we need to iron those out. The further we go in this tournament, the stronger the opposition will be. We have to stay alert. We're happy, we'll enjoy this win but tomorrow it's back to work with Didier." Guy Stephan, France assistant coach
"What does it mean ? A lot of emotions, a lot of joy and there’s the win at the end of it so it’s wonderful. We’ve played very well and finished first. I can’t even describe how I feel. We had our objectives and have reached them – we’ve had a very good group stage. Now we know the adventure is not over. We want to dream big and we’re going to prepare for the next match. We know we’re a very good attacking team – we can score at any moment of a match.” Maxence Lacroix, France defender
Sources: FIFA Official
