Ousmane Dembélé needed barely half an hour to write his name into World Cup history. His hat-trick — scored in the 7th, 20th, and 32nd minutes — is the second-fastest in World Cup history, behind only Erich Probst's 24-minute treble for Austria against Czechoslovakia in 1954. It also made him just the third French player ever to score a World Cup hat-trick, joining Just Fontaine and Kylian Mbappé.
The win came under unusual circumstances for France. Didier Deschamps was not on the touchline in Boston — he had returned home to France for his mother's funeral. Assistant coach Guy Stéphane took charge of the side in his absence. "As for the game, we did what we needed to do," Stéphane said afterward. "There was a lot of enjoyment in the way we played, plenty of intensity and plenty of chances."
Norway, already through to the round of 32 regardless of the result, had nothing left to play for and showed it in personnel: Ståle Solbakken made ten changes to his starting XI, resting Erling Haaland entirely. The much-changed side still found a reply — Thelo Aasgaard scored just 14 seconds after the restart that followed Dembélé's second goal, pulling Norway back to 2-1. It was the last word Norway would get. Dembélé completed his hat-trick in the 32nd minute, and substitute Désiré Doué added a fourth deep into stoppage time, in the 90+4th minute.
"We want to win every match, and we'll keep our focus because what's coming next is even more important," Dembélé said after the match. France close the group stage with the maximum nine points from three wins, ten goals scored across the three games, and top spot in Group I.
A hat-trick inside 32 minutes — the second-fastest in World Cup history — and only the third by a Frenchman, after Just Fontaine and Kylian Mbappé.
With Deschamps home for his mother's funeral, the assistant coach steered France to a perfect group stage in his place — a quiet professional job done under difficult personal circumstances for the manager.
Nine points from nine, ten goals scored, zero finals lost — France top Group I having beaten Senegal, Iraq, and now a much-changed Norway by an aggregate scoreline that says everything about their group stage.
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇫🇷 France | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +8 | 9 |
| 🇳🇴 Norway | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 6 |
| 🇸🇳 Senegal | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 0 |
| 🇮🇶 Iraq | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -6 | 0 |
France finish top of Group I, Norway second — both already through to the round of 32. Senegal and Iraq still have everything to play for in tonight's other Group I finale (Match 066) for third place and a shot at a best-third-place berth.