France is rolling at the 2026 World Cup, and Ousmane Dembélé is the guy making it look easy. The PSG forward torched Norway with a first-half hat trick on Thursday, pushing Les Bleus to the top of Group I. His teammate Désiré Doué tacked on a fourth deep in stoppage time, but the story was Dembélé from the opening whistle.
Dembélé now has the Ballon d’Or on his shelf and a World Cup group stage that looks like a video game stat line. But when M6 caught up with him postgame, he didn’t sound like someone ready to crown himself. He sounded like a guy who knows the real tournament is about to start.
Dembélé on staying focused
“We have to stay focused,” Dembélé said. “It was an important game to finish top of the group. We want to win every game, and what is to come is even more important.”
That’s about as grounded as you’ll get from a guy who just put three balls in the net before halftime. France were runners-up in 2022, losing that wild final to Argentina on penalties. They’ve looked sharp in this group stage, but the knockout rounds are a different animal.
Kylian Mbappé stays involved
Kylian Mbappé didn’t score in this one, but he walked away with two assists. For a guy whose World Cup legacy is already massive, that says something about how this France team is clicking. Dembélé made a point to shout out his front-line partners.
“It’s important, communication is key,” Dembélé said. “It’s way easier, we understand each other way more. It’s positive, we have to carry on.”
That connection between Dembélé, Mbappé, and the rest of the attack looks dangerous. Norway had no answer for it. Defenders around the world should probably be paying attention.
What comes next for Les Bleus
France locked up the group’s top spot, which usually means a softer path in the round of 16. But this World Cup has already thrown up some surprises, and Didier Deschamps knows better than anyone that group-stage form doesn’t guarantee anything once the knockout bracket opens.
Dembélé is playing with confidence. His teammates are feeding him. And the guy who just scored a World Cup hat trick is telling anyone who will listen that the best is still ahead. Whether France can finally get over the line after that 2022 heartbreak is the question. But right now, they look like a team that believes it can.
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