Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
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 are likely to meet 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.
