Dembélé Hat Trick Lifts France Over Norway, Senegal Rout Iraq

At the 75th minute, France led Norway 3-1 and Senegal led Iraq 3-0 in the latest World Cup action. France’s star was Ousmane Dembélé, who scored a hat trick in under half an hour and pushed the European champions to the top of the group and into a round-of-32 meeting with Sweden.

Dembélé’s three goals all came from the right side of the attack, with Kylian Mbappé setting him up for the first two. France also had a penalty saved by goalkeeper Mike Maignan, while Norway’s Antonio Nusa cut the deficit with a goal of his own.

The article described Dembélé’s performance as his best yet for the national team. The Paris Saint-Germain winger entered the tournament with only seven goals for France, none of them in the Euros or the World Cup, and this was his first major-tournament goal at age 29.

The three-goal haul was only the fourth hat trick by a French player at a World Cup. The previous ones came from Just Fontaine in 1958 and Mbappé in the 2022 final. Dembélé’s treble also took him to 11 international goals, after never previously scoring more than once in a match for France. In the other match, Senegal must beat the Asian opponents if its players want to reach the round of 32.