Dembele’s quick-fire treble powers France to 4-1 win over second-string Norway

Ousmane Dembele scored a first-half hat-trick as France made sure of top spot in World Cup Group I with a ruthless 4-1 win on Friday over a second-string Norway who like the French had already qualified for the next round of the tournament.

The winger scored three times in the space of 25 minutes in the first period to send the 2018 world champions and 2022 runners-up into the Round of 32 with a spring in their step.

The France players had promised to go for their third win in as many games as a tribute to coach Didier Deschamps who has flown home from the U.S. to attend the funeral of his mother.

“We really wanted to be there for Didier and to be up to the task,” said France assistant coach Guy Stephan – who has been Deschamps’ right-hand man since their Olympique de Marseille days. “I will call him later on and he will be ecstatic.”

By taking first place in the group, France set up a meeting with Sweden in the first knockout round, while second-placed Norway will play Ivory Coast.

Deschamps is due to return to the squad on Saturday to begin preparing for the next phase.

Although France and Norway had made sure of a last-32 place before Friday’s clash, the French made it clear they wanted to come top to take advantage of a lighter travel schedule offered by the tournament’s North American criss-crossing route map.

Their task was made easier by Norway coach Stale Solbakken’s decision to rest all but one of the players who started against Senegal earlier this week, including goal-scoring machine Erling Haaland and captain Martin Odegaard.

FRANCE ATTACK FROM THE START

France went on the attack from the kickoff. Kylian Mbappe, who is likely to be challenging Haaland for the World Cup’s Golden Boot top scorer award, slammed an angled shot off the bar with barely 20 seconds on the clock.

Six minutes later Mbappe swept a glorious cross-field pass to Dembele who cut inside and then outside a defender before blasting an angled shot past goalkeeper Egil Selvik.

Mbappe fed Dembele again in the 20th minute and the Paris St Germain forward gained a yard of space against his marker to score with a dipping shot.

Norway pulled a goal back almost immediately through Thelo Aasgaard before Dembele became the third France player to score a World Cup treble – after Just Fontaine in the 1950s and Mbappe – by curling a low shot into the bottom corner in the 32nd.

It was the second-earliest hat-trick ever scored at a World Cup, behind Erich Probst who got three goals for Austria in 1954 against Czechoslovakia after 24 minutes.

Jorgen Strand Larsen blew a chance to get Norway back into the game early in the second half when his soft penalty was saved by Mike Maignan.

Winger Oscar Bobb forced Maignan into another save as the Scandinavians exposed some vulnerability in their opponents’ back line before Desire Doue got France’s fourth with a header from a cross by substitute Bradley Barcola in the dying moments.

Norway coach Solbakken said it had been a “no-brainer” to rest so many of his usual starters against France, including Haaland and Odegaard.

“The only argument for not doing what we did is that the fans in Norway and here could have seen Erling and Martin. But then it wouldn’t be a long World Cup, and that’s what we’re here for,” he said. “We’re here to go as far as possible.”

Gueye double helps five star Senegal keep World Cup hopes alive and send Iraq home

Senegal kept their World Cup knockout hopes alive in dominant fashion on Friday with a 5-0 victory over 10-man Iraq, who were eliminated from the tournament.

Survival was on the line as both sides entered the match needing to win to stay in the hunt for one of the last eight spots in the round of 32.

Substitute Pape Gueye was barely on the field for three minutes when he unleashed a stunning 84 kph strike from distance before adding another cracking shot recorded at 103 kph.

“I think he was very motivated,” Senegal coach Pape Thiaw said of Gueye. “He wanted to serve his country and he scored two goals so we must congratulate him.”

SENEGAL COME ALIVE IN SECOND HALF

Senegal took an early lead through a deflected goal off Habib Diarra but failed to capitalise after Iraq defender Rebin Sulaka was sent off in the 13th minute for a foul on Sadio Mane following a VAR review.

But Thiaw’s men took charge in the second half and began their goal fest when Ismaila Sarr scored his fourth career World Cup goal to become the country’s all-time leading scorer at the tournament.

Gueye struck twice and Iliman Ndiaye fired a rocket into the back of the net to cap off a five-star performance for Senegal, and their green-clad supporters began to chant “Senegal! Senegal!” as the clock wound down.

Despite bouncing back from back-to-back defeats by France and Norway with a strong display, Thiaw said his team could be better after a “difficult” first half.

“Even though we scored five goals, there are still improvements to be made,” Thiaw told reporters.

Senegal finished third in Group I with three points, behind France and Norway. Iraq were bottom with zero points.

The African side must wait until the group stage ends on Saturday to see if they are one of the eight best third-placed teams who will advance to the round of 32.

IRAQ ELIMINATED AFTER THREE LOSSES

Down a man for most of the game, Iraq could not escape Senegal’s relentless pressure and the possibility of a comeback quickly slipped from their grasp.

Zidane Iqbal displayed a great bit of skill to keep possession just outside his own box but Camara managed to come away with the ball, burst forward and lay a pass across the six-yard box for a sliding Sarr to poke home.

Iraq, making their second World Cup appearance and first in 40 years, will go home without a point.

“It was an amazing experience, but I want to apologise (to) our fans, (to) our nations,” defender Merchas Doski said. “These three games, we didn’t learn from our mistakes.”

Iraq coach Graham Arnold said Sulaka’s “stupid” early red card made it even tougher for the team to perform against a top side like Senegal.

“With 11 men, it would have been hard enough as it was, let alone having 10 men for that long,” Arnold said.