FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe aren’t that fast. Ousmane Dembele has just entered the Golden Boot race.
Dembele scored a hat-trick, including one goal on a feed from Mbappé in the first half, as France defeated Norway 4-1. world cup on friday.
Dembele’s goals came in the 7th, 20th and 32nd minutes. It was Russia’s first first-half hat trick in a World Cup since Oleg Salenko scored three of his five goals in the opening 45 minutes against Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
“This is a unique moment,” Dembele said. “But the most important thing is to finish the group stage top of the group and we are focused on the most important round of 32.”
France, who won the 2018 World Cup but lost in the final four years ago, had already booked a place in the knockout stages before Friday’s match. Norway also secured a place in the round of 32, taking second place in the group.
Desiree Douai scored France’s winning goal in stoppage time of the second half.
Dembele said changing his approach for the final group game was never considered. France has scored 10 points through three games.
“We want to win every game, but we remain focused,” Dembele said.
The fastest World Cup hat-trick took just 7 minutes and 42 seconds. At the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Hungarian striker Laszlo Kiss, who came on as a substitute, accomplished this feat in the final stages of the game against El Salvador.
The fastest hat-trick in a World Cup match was achieved in Switzerland in 1954, when Austrian striker Erich Probst scored three goals in the first 24 minutes against Czechoslovakia.
Dembele, who won the Ballon d’Or as Europe’s best player in 2025 and scored four goals at this year’s World Cup, left the match in the 65th minute. His successor was Bradley Barcola.
Following Dembele’s second goal, Thero Asgård scored just 14 seconds after the restart to put Norway on the scoreboard. However, less than nine minutes later, Dembele added a third goal to restore the lead to two points.
Dembele increased his international goals to eight, while Mbappé has 16 goals and four assists in 17 World Cup games. He scored two goals in each of France’s victories. Over Senegal and Iraq.
erling haaland He was one of 10 regular starters absent from Norway’s starting lineup, presumably due to rest. Major changes included Egil Selvik starting in goal instead of Orjan Nyland.
Norway coach Starre Solbakken said it was an easy decision to rest so many players.
“We had the shortest break of any team from our last game to this game. … So that makes sense,” he said. “Fans across Norway and fans in the arena will want to see Erling. But that’s not the real issue. We want to go as long as we can in the tournament.”
The Norwegians will next play Ivory Coast in the Round of 32 in Arlington, Texas on Tuesday. France will play one of the top eight third-place teams on the same day in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Mbappé almost put France on the scoreboard just 21 seconds into the game. He ran up the right side and fired a powerful shot, but it went over Selvik’s outstretched arm and hit the crossbar.
Dembélé received a pass from Mbappé and fired a right-footed shot past Selvik, playing in space for his first goal.
For the Paris Saint-Germain player’s second goal, Dembele found space between three defenders at the top of the box and fired a left-footed shot past Selvik’s diving save.
Norway had a chance to reduce the lead to one point in the 49th inning when French defender Theo Hernandez was accused of tripping Oscar Bobb in the box. However, Jorgen Strand Larsen’s penalty shot into the right corner was parried away by French goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Before the match, French fans in attendance held up a banner reading “AVEC TOI DIDIER” (with Didier) in honor of Ginette Deschamps, mother of French national team coach Didier Deschamps, who passed away this week. The manager missed Friday’s game against Norway as he was in France with his family, leaving his assistant Guy Stephan in charge.
Stéphane said Deschamps would rejoin the squad for the next training session on Saturday.
___
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
