France secured top spot in World Cup Group I with a 4-1 victory over Norway at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, a match defined by Ousmane Dembélé’s first-half hat-trick and a Norwegian team selection that left Erling Haaland on the bench. The result, achieved without head coach Didier Deschamps who had returned to France for his mother’s funeral, gave Les Bleus maximum points and extended their group-stage goal tally to ten. Kylian Mbappé struck the crossbar inside the opening minute, and the tone was set: France’s full-strength attack would overwhelm a Norway side featuring ten changes from the previous match.

Dembélé opened the scoring in the seventh minute, cutting in from the right to fire past goalkeeper Egil Selvik after a long pass from Mbappé. The same combination produced a second goal in the 20th minute, Dembélé curling a left-footed shot into the far corner from outside the area. Norway responded immediately from the restart, Thelo Aasgaard beating Mike Maignan with a low drive after a defensive lapse, but Dembélé completed his treble in the 32nd minute, again finding the bottom corner with his left foot. It was the second-fastest hat-trick from the start of a World Cup match, behind only Erich Probst’s 24-minute feat for Austria in 1954. Norway’s best chance to narrow the deficit came early in the second half when Jørgen Strand Larsen’s penalty was saved by Maignan, and Désiré Doué added a fourth for France in stoppage time with a header from Bradley Barcola’s cross.

Norway’s coach Ståle Solbakken had already secured qualification for the round of 32 and opted to rest Haaland, Martin Ødegaard and Alexander Sørloth, a decision that drew attention across European and Latin American media. Analysts in Oslo noted the pragmatic calculation: a second-place finish would set up a knockout tie against Ivory Coast in Dallas, while topping the group risked a more demanding path. France, by contrast, fielded a near full-strength lineup and will remain in the northeastern United States to face a third-placed finisher at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The French camp, still processing Deschamps’ absence, described the celebration as subdued, with assistant Guy Stéphan acknowledging the emotional weight on the squad.

In the group’s other fixture, Senegal defeated Iraq 5-0 in Toronto to finish third with three points and a plus-two goal difference, keeping alive their hopes of advancing as one of the best third-placed teams. Iraq played most of the match with ten men after a red card. France’s perfect group stage reinforces their status as one of the tournament favourites, while Norway’s calculated gamble will be tested when they meet Ivory Coast on 30 June.