France sent a strong statement to the rest of the tournament by finishing top of Group I with a perfect record after a dominant 4-1 victory over Norway at Boston Stadium in the USA on Saturday.
In contrast to Kylian Mbappé, although much of the pre-match attention was on Kylian Mbappé, it was Ousmane Dembélé who scored a hat-trick that stole the show, and this showed that France’s depth in attackers is not as much about one individual player. Despite a low-key day for Mbappé, Les Bleus were unstoppable in the final third of the game; they dominated Norway from the opening whistle with their relentless attacking football approach.
Dembélé scored the first goal in the seventh minute after Mbappé had let him go inside when he was released by Mbappé and took a strong shot into the top-left corner as he cut inside from the right and hit a powerful shot. And minutes later the winger struck again with lightning-quick feet and a beautiful left-footed finish into the net in the first half.
Norway briefly found hope when Kristian Aasgaard surged past Dayot Upamecano and calmly slotted home to make it 2-1. But any hopes of a comeback disappeared almost immediately.
Dembélé completed the ‘second-fastest hat-trick in FIFA World Cup history’ just after the half-hour mark, deftly dodging and finishing calmly to restore France’s two-goal edge.
Norway had an opportunity to reduce the deficit after Oscar Bobb won a penalty following a foul from Theo Hernández. But goalkeeper Mike Maignan saved Jørgen Strand Larsen from the spot and France ended up in front.
The icing on the cake came late in the game when exciting youngster Désiré Doué rose highest to head home a pinpoint cross from Bradley Barcola, scoring his 'first goal of the 2026 FIFA World Cup' and wrapping up an emphatic 4-1 victory.
France’s attack was so clinical that Dembélé’s hat-trick made it easy to overlook Mbappé’s unusually quiet performance. That is perhaps the most frightening thing for France’s rivals—when their biggest star has an off day, others are more than capable of taking center stage. With a perfect group-stage campaign and multiple attacking threats firing, Les Bleus go into the knockout rounds looking every bit like genuine World Cup favorites.
