Ousmane Dembélé's first-half hat trick sees France win group - ESPN

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — France forward Ousmane Dembélé scored a first-half hat trick, including one off an assist from Kylian Mbappé, to help his team to a 4-1 win over Norway 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.

The win gave top honors in Group I to France, who finished with nine points after winning all three games in the group stage. Norway finished second in the group on six points.

«I'm happy. It's a unique and special moment for me,» Dembélé said after the game. «But I preferred my performances against Iraq and Senegal. I was much more influential.»

In the round of 32, Norway will face Ivory Coast in Dallas, while France will play a third-place finisher yet to be determined in New Jersey.

The matchup with Norway — with first place in Group I on the line — was billed as a Golden Boot showdown between Erling Haaland and Mbappé, but Haaland was rested and it was Dembélé who stole the show with three well-taken goals before the break.

The showing put Dembélé squarely into the race for the World Cup's top scorer along with Haaland, Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Lionel Messi.

Norway coach Ståle Solbakken all but conceded the group win to France when he made a host of changes to his regular starting XI to rest his players — including the prolific Haaland — ahead of the team's already-secured spot in the round of 32.

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