Dembélé's Historic Hat-Trick Sends France Storming to Group I Title
It was supposed to be the Kylian Mbappé vs. Erling Haaland showdown the entire tournament had been waiting for. Instead, the script got torn up before halftime — and the man holding the pen was Ousmane Dembélé.
With Norway boss Ståle Solbakken making ten changes and parking Haaland on the bench since both teams had already clinched Group I qualification, France treated the final group game like a statement piece. Mbappé nearly opened the scoring 21 seconds in, ringing a shot off the crossbar, before setting the tone properly six minutes later: a cross-field ball found Dembélé, who cut inside, dropped a shoulder, and bent a finish past goalkeeper Egil Selvik for 1-0 in the 7th minute. Mbappé found him again in the 20th minute for an almost identical sequence — cut, separate from the marker, dipping shot into the far corner.
Norway briefly threatened a response when Thelo Aasgaard pulled one back, but Dembélé wasn't finished. In the 32nd minute, he curled a low shot into the bottom corner to complete his hat-trick and put France firmly in control at 3-1.
It made Dembélé just the third Frenchman ever to score a World Cup hat-trick, joining Just Fontaine (twice, 1958) and Mbappé himself, who scored three in the 2022 final. Norway had one more shot at turning the tide early in the second half when Jørgen Strand Larsen won a penalty, but his attempt was soft and easily saved by Mike Maignan. From there, France comfortably ran the clock down before adding a fourth in stoppage time — substitute Bradley Barcola whipping in a cross for Désiré Doué to head home.
Key Moments
- 7'Dembélé cuts inside and bends past Selvik to open the scoring.
- 20'Mbappé finds Dembélé again — same move, same result. 2-0.
- 28'Aasgaard pulls one back for Norway. 2-1.
- 32'Dembélé curls a low shot into the bottom corner to complete his hat-trick. 3-1.
- 62'Strand Larsen wins a penalty but Maignan saves comfortably.
- 90+2'Barcola's cross, Doué's header. 4-1 and game over.
By the numbers: France finish the group stage with 9 points and 10 goals across three matches — a perfect record matched at the time only by Mexico, with Argentina joining that group after their own group-stage finale on Saturday. Dembélé's treble lifts him to 4 goals in the tournament, tying him with Mbappé, Erling Haaland, and Brazil's Vinícius Júnior in the race for the Golden Boot — two behind Lionel Messi, who leads all scorers with 6 after a late free kick sealed Argentina's group-stage finale against Jordan.
The win came under unusual circumstances off the pitch. Manager Didier Deschamps had flown home to attend his mother's funeral, with assistant Guy Stéphan running the sideline in his place. Mbappé, meanwhile, won his 101st cap and continues his pursuit of Messi's all-time World Cup scoring record, sitting on 16 career tournament goals to Messi's 19 — a number Messi extended yet again with that late strike against Jordan.
What's Next
France head to MetLife Stadium on Tuesday, June 30, for a Round of 32 clash against Sweden, who advanced as one of the tournament's best third-place teams. Norway, as Group I runner-up, travels to AT&T Stadium in Arlington the same day to face Ivory Coast.