France completed a perfect group stage at the 2026 World Cup thanks to their 4-1 win over Norway. Ousmane Dembele was undoubtedly the star of the show.
Les Bleus were two goals up within 20 minutes thanks to a pair of goals from Dembele, both assisted by Kylian Mbappe. The Paris Saint-Germain forward finished both extremely well, finally announcing himself at a major tournament for France.
Within moments of Dembele’s second goal, Norway had one back with Thelo Aasgaard beating the defender before finishing low into the bottom corner. But Dembele had completed his hat-trick just after the half-hour mark, with a finish almost identical to his second, cutting onto his left foot and curling into the far corner.
Norway had the chance to get a goal back from the penalty spot just minutes into the second half, but Jorgen Strand Larsen’s poor effort was saved. The second half looked to be ending goalless, but Desire Doue got a fourth for France late on.
The result saw France finish top of Group I, setting up a last-32 tie against the third-placed side from Groups D, F or G. Norway, meanwhile, will face Ivory Coast.
Norway vs France analysis:
Introducing Ousmane Dembele
Dembele had a strange season for Paris Saint-Germain. He was directly involved in 31 goals in 40 games across all competitions but didn’t have the impact we all know he can, due to injury. It came after his 35 goals and 14 assists to help PSG win the Treble, including a first-ever Champions League success (leading to his Ballon d’Or win). But he still hadn’t performed for France when it mattered.
Across his first 19 appearances at World Cups and European Championships, Dembele had failed to score a single goal. In fact, he’d only scored eight goals in 61 appearances for France across all competitions going into this game. The 29-year-old finally broke his major tournament duck against Iraq last time out, and it’s spurred him on.
Dembele was unstoppable against Norway, even if it was a rotated defence. All three of his goals to secure a first-half hat-trick were excellent. The first saw him turn left-back Fredik Bjorkan inside and out having been given the space of Massachusetts on his flank. He shifted outside and finished well across goalkeeper Egil Selvick, a sign of what was to come. Dembele’s second and third goals were pretty similar, cutting inside onto his left foot and curling low strikes into the far corner. It was the second-quickest hat-trick in World Cup history, and just the fourth treble by a Frenchman in the competition — after Just Fontaine (two) and Mbappe.
Dembele hit the target with all three of his shots, with a big positive difference between his Expected Goals (0.45) and post-shot xG (1.45). So Dembele was increasing his chances of scoring based on his shot placement. He also created two chances, had 51 touches and completed 17 final third passes before being taken off midway through the second half.
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Worrying depth for Norway
It’s hard to judge Norway’s performance because of how much manager Stale Solbakken rotated, making 10 changes. But that itself caused problems many may not be surprised to see. Norway don’t have the quality in depth to compete with the best right now, should they need to use more than their starting lineup.
The most worrying thing was how easy France found it to attack down their right in the first half. Fredrik Bjorkan was the man deputising for David Moller Wolfe at left-back, who was getting some much-needed rest. This change could have been tested earlier in the tournament due to injury worries. And Wolfe’s fitness is clearly very important.
Bjorkan struggled to deal with Dembele on his flank, particularly for the first goal. He was caught out with far too much space behind for Dembele to run into, before getting turned inside the box. Bjorkan’s night only lasted 45 minutes as he was taken off at half-time, to rubberstamp the poor performance.
The other main issue is the lack of backup for Erling Haaland. Now, that’s not a major problem when you can rely on Haaland for most of a tournament. But if, for whatever reason, Haaland is unable to play, Norway may come unstuck. Jorgen Strand Larsen wasn’t the focal point of the attack that Norway needed, nor was he the threat of France’s goal. Exhibit A of that was his penalty miss minutes into the second half.
Now, there were some decent performances. Oscar Bobb looked good in moments and he won the early second-half penalty. Thelo Aasgaard took his goal really well, both in terms of the finish and beating the defender. And Egil Selvik did all he could in the Norway goal. But they were few and far between.
Mbappe the creator
All eyes were on Mbappe for this game, to see if he could edge closer to the all-time World Cup goalscoring record. The Frenchman went into the game level on 16 goals at World Cups alongside Miroslav Klose, who held the record at the start of the tournament. But he was two behind Lionel Messi, who broke Klose’s record earlier in the week.
But Mbappe decided to play the creator on Friday, leaving the goalscoring for everyone — after testing the goalkeeper inside 20 seconds, that is. And the Real Madrid man was excellent at it. He ended the game with two assists, with first of which was beautiful. He cut through the space in behind Norway’s left-back with an excellent pass into Dembele. Dembele still scored a very good goal, but the pass is what made it happen.
Shortly after he produced another good pass, this time a reverse ball inside the box for Michael Olise. But the Bayern Munich man scuffed his effort to deny Mbappe a second assist. He did get his second midway through the first half, managing to release Dembele despite being fouled. This one was more about Dembele, but Mbappe should earn plaudits for getting the pass off to begin with.
Mbappe was crucial as a creative man, dropping slightly deeper to try to influence play. He created four chances in total, more than any other France player at the time of his substitution. The 27-year-old also completed 16 final third passes and three long passes, the latter indicative of the role he was playing.
As France’s captain, it was a selfless performance to inspire, showing that he doesn’t play for himself. But Mbappe will no doubt want to get back among the goals, with the all-time World Cup record already so close.
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