Ousmane Dembele stole the show in the first half, with the Ballon d’Or winner scoring a hat trick in the first 32 minutes of this heavyweight clash.
France Made an Early Statement
The major news pre-game was around Norway’s decision to rest their starters and essentially accept their fate as 2nd place in the group. With the reduced quality on the pitch, France took advantage from the opening moments.
The PSG forward was unstoppable early on, opening his scoring account for the day in just the 7th minute. Mbappe played a lovely ball wide to Dembele, who attacked the space and smashed the ball with his right foot past Selvik to give France the lead.
The lead doubled for France in the 20th minute, once again with Mbappe and Dembele at the center of the action. Mbappe had his shirt tugged by Ostigard, but still managed to play a ball out wide to Dembele. He cut inside and, this time with his left foot, scored a lovely 20-yard effort past the keeper.
Norway responded quickly with what was their best action of the 90 minutes. Just one minute after France’s second, Thelo Aasgaard responded with a lovely low-driven shot following a faint that opened up space for the Norwegian midfielder.
France once again restored their two-goal cushion following yet another Dembele goal in the 32nd minute. Nearly identical to his second goal, Dembele cut inside and finished with his left foot just inside the box.
Norway’s way back into the game came early in the second half, when Oscar Bobb was fouled by Theo Hernandez after cleverly swifting past the defender. However, the penalty by Strand Larsen was poorly hit and easily saved by Mike Maignan.
Desire Doue had the final say in the final matches, with a lovely header assisted by his PSG teammate Bradley Barcola to score France’s 4th of the night.
Senegal Cruised to a Victory over Iraq
With a need for 3 points and plenty of goals to keep their World Cup dreams alive, Senegal managed to do just so with a 5-0 win against Iraq in Toronto, Canada. With just one goal in the first half, via a deflected effort by Diarra, Senegal needed a much better showing in the second half to increase their chances of advancing to the knockout stage.
With goals from Sarr, Ndiaye, and a double from Pape Gueye, Senegal stretched their goal difference to +2. Currently, Senegal sits 5th amongst the best 3rd-placed teams and will need some more luck around them to secure this spot.
What’s Next?
France, as the Group I winners, will play on Tuesday in New York/New Jersey against Sweden. Along with Mexico, France are just the second team so far to earn all possible 9 points in the Group Stage phase.
Norway will face Ivory Coast on Tuesday at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Senegal are currently awaiting to see if they will qualify as one of the Top 8 third-place teams.
