Ousmane Dembele is having the kind of year most players only dream about. Ballon d’Or winner. Back-to-back Champions League titles with PSG. A third straight Ligue 1 crown. And now this: a first-half hat trick for France against Norway that hasn’t been done at the World Cup since 1994.
Friday’s 4-1 win in Foxborough wasn’t just another group stage result. With first place in Group I on the line, Dembele put on a show at Gillette Stadium that had the French bench shaking their heads. He scored in the 7th minute. Then again in the 20th. Then again in the 32nd. By halftime, Norway had seen its first deficit of the entire tournament and France was already thinking about the knockout rounds.
The hat trick that rewrote a 30-year-old stat
The last man to pull off a first-half hat trick in a World Cup match was Oleg Salenko for Russia against Cameroon back in 1994. That’s before most of the current French squad was even born. Dembele’s three goals in 25 minutes put him in rare company, and it’s the kind of performance that makes you wonder what ceiling is left for him.
He’s always been that guy who could do something ridiculous with the ball at his feet. The quick cuts, the low center of gravity, the finishing that looks almost casual. But for years he lived in Kylian Mbappe’s shadow at PSG and with the national team. Not anymore. Not after this.
France looks terrifying right now
The 2018 champions already had depth everywhere. Now they’ve got Dembele playing at a level that makes him the focal point rather than a supporting piece. Norway came into this game undefeated in the group and left wondering what hit them. France’s next match is Tuesday against an opponent still to be determined, but if Dembele keeps playing like this, it might not matter who lines up across from them.
(The crowd in Foxborough was heavily pro-France, by the way. Felt like a home game.)
What makes this run different is how complete his game has become. He’s not just cutting inside and shooting anymore. He’s pressing, tracking back, making runs that pull defenders out of position for teammates. The hat trick was the headline, but the work rate was the foundation.
Can he keep it going? The knockout stage is where reputations get cemented. Dembele already has the hardware. Now he’s chasing the kind of legacy that separates good players from legends.
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