BOSTON — Ousmane Dembélé scored a first-half hat trick as France hammered home their status as World Cup favorites with a 4-1 Group I win against a Norway side that rested star striker Erling Haaland in Boston.
Dembele’s 32-minute hat-trick, followed by Désiré Doué’s headed goal in second-half stoppage time, secured an emphatic win for Les Bleus to confirm qualification for the Round of 32 as group winners.
With Norway coach Stale Solbakken making ten changes to his starting line-up, including Manchester City forward Haaland, France dominated against the half-strength Norwegians. And although Thelo Aasgaard gave Norway brief hope when he made it 2-1 seconds after Dembele’s second goal, France coasted to the win and even saw goalkeeper Mike Maignan save a Jorgen Strand Larsen penalty.
France now face a third-place qualifier in New Jersey next Tuesday while Norway travel to Dallas to take on Ivory Coast on the same day.
All about Haaland and Mbappe? Dembele says a big hello
The build-up to this game was all about the heavyweight clash between Kylian Mbappé and Haaland, but Ousmane Dembele reminded the world that he was the only Ballon d’Or winner on the pitch in Boston, and he did it in emphatic style with a hat-trick.
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But it wasn’t just any old hat-trick. Dembele’s three-goal salvo, scored in the space of 32 first-half minutes, was the second quickest in World Cup history after the 24 minute hat-trick scored by Austria’s Erich Probst against Czechoslovakia in 1954. Had he scored another, he would have become the first player to score four or more goals in a World Cup game since Russia’s Oleg Salenko hit five against Cameroon in 1994.
But the milestones are a side issue at the elite level, and Dembele’s performance was all about showing the world that he can be as ruthless in front of goal as his Les Bleus teammate. Each of Dembele’s goals involved stunning finishes beyond Norway goalkeeper Egil Selvik, and two came from Mbappe assists.
Dembele has such graceful movement, pace and clinical finishing that he should he a superstar in his own right, but Mbappe inevitably takes the spotlight from him. But as the reigning Ballon d’Or winner, Dembele is a major star, and he showed it in Boston. And if Mbappe suffers an injury that rules him out of a game, France know that Dembele is more than equipped to step up and score the goals for Didier Deschamps’ team. — Ogden
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Burley: Norway resting players against France shows ‘defeatist attitude’
Will Norway regret taking it easy?
Manager Stale Solbakken might be right in the end; if his Norway “A team” beat Ivory Coast in the round of 32 in Dallas on Tuesday, then few will remember Friday’s rather subdued performance in defeat. But Norway could have beaten France on Friday in Boston to top their group and have a different path ahead into the knockout stages with less travelling and more rest.
Regardless, Solbakken decided to throw away the game before it even started. By making 10 changes to the team that beat Senegal 3-2 on Monday and leaving Haaland, Antonio Nusa, Martin Odegaard and Alexander Sorloth on the bench for the entire game, it was clear he’d raised a white flag and didn’t want to try and compete.
Before the game, people had been seeing this as the best game of the group stage given the Mbappé vs. Haaland main event; alas, Solbakken decided otherwise. It is a shame, but his explanation for keeping his main players fresh for the next game in only four days does make some practical sense. However, he will need his key players to deliver against Ivory Coast now in order for it to be worth it. — Laurens
A word on France’s ominous strength in depth
For the third time in three games at this World Cup, France have scored at least three goals! It is not anecdotal or coincidental, either; it just proves what we knew already before, which is that the attacking firepower this French side has is so impressive.
Kylian Mbappé (four) and Ousmane Dembélé (four) have scored eight of their 10 goals so far at this tournament, with Bradley Barcola and Desire Doué have the other two against Senegal and Norway. Michael Olise has three assists, as does Mbappé — which means seven goal involvements so far in 3 games! — while Dembélé, Adrien Rabiot, Barcola and Aurélien Tchouaméni have one each. Only Marcus Thuram, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Rayan Cherki are yet to have a direct impact.
There is so much going forward for this team, and the group stage reinforces again the fact that one would have to be very strong to stop this attacking line. Didier Deschamps and his temporary fill-in, Guy Stéphan — Deschamps had flown back to France following the death of his mother — managed minutes well against Norway, taking off Olise and Dembélé in the second half.
It was not perfect from the French, and it’s worth noting that the lack of defensive balance and structure let this Norway team create chances. However, the 2022 finalists are certainly ready for the real start of this World Cup, on Tuesday, when they take the field in the round of 32. — Laurens
Strand Larsen shows it’s no Haaland, no party for Norway
It’s probably the toughest gig in football to be asked to deputise for Haaland, and Jorgen Strand Larsen was given that dubious for Norway against France due to coach Stale Solbakken resting his four-goal top scorer.
Haaland has hit 59 goals in 52 games for his country and is one of the world’s top strikers, but Strand Larsen had only managed 6 goals in 28 appearances before facing the French in Boston. And unfortunately for the Crystal Palace forward, it looked like Clark Kent had replaced Superman.
Strand Larsen was slow and ponderous in the first half, and his lack of awareness meant he failed to take advantage of a couple of good opportunities. He then blew a chance to get Norway back into the game four minutes into the second half, with a woeful penalty that was saved by keeper Mike Maignan.
Haaland was probably desperate to get onto the pitch to take the spot-kick and net his fifth goal of this World Cup, but Strand Larsen took it and just reminded the world how much Norway will miss Haaland if he cannot play a game through injury or suspension.
