Massachusetts. Not so fast, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé. Ousmane Dembélé has entered the Golden Boot race.

Dembélé scored a first-half hat trick, including one goal set up by Mbappé, to lead France to a 4-1 victory over Norway at the World Cup on Friday.

His goals came in the seventh, 20th and 32nd minutes. It was the first first-half hat trick at a World Cup since Russia's Oleg Salenko scored three of his five goals before halftime against Cameroon at the 1994 tournament in the United States.

"It is a unique moment," Dembélé said. "But the most important thing was to finish first in the group, and we are focused on the round of 32, which is the most important."

France, which won the World Cup in 2018 and finished runner-up four years later, had already secured its place in the knockout stage before Friday's match. Norway had also clinched a place in the round of 32 and finished second in the group.

Désiré Doué added France's fourth goal in second-half stoppage time.

Dembélé said there was never any thought of easing up in the final group match. France has scored 10 goals through its first three games.

"We want to win all our matches, but we remain focused," he said.

The fastest World Cup hat trick took just 7 minutes, 42 seconds. Hungary striker Laszlo Kiss, who came on as a substitute, accomplished the feat against El Salvador at the 1982 World Cup in Spain.

The quickest hat trick from kickoff came at the 1954 tournament in Switzerland, when Austria forward Erich Probst scored three goals in the opening 24 minutes against Czechoslovakia.

Dembélé, who won the Ballon d'Or as Europe's top player in 2025 and now has four goals at this year's World Cup, left the match in the 65th minute and was replaced by Bradley Barcola.

Thelo Aasgaard put Norway on the scoreboard just 14 seconds after halftime, scoring shortly after Dembélé's second goal. But Dembélé restored France's two-goal advantage less than nine minutes later.

Dembélé increased his international tally to eight goals, while Mbappé now has 16 goals and four assists in 17 World Cup appearances. Mbappé scored twice in each of France's victories over Senegal and Iraq.

Erling Haaland was among 10 regular starters left out of Norway's lineup, apparently to rest ahead of the knockout stage. The changes included Egil Selvik replacing Orjan Nyland in goal.

Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said resting so many players was an easy decision.

"The break that we had from the last game to this game was the shortest of any team. So it's a no-brainer," Solbakken said. "The fans around Norway and also in the arena would have liked to see Erling. But that is not really the issue. We want to proceed as long as we can in the tournament."

Norway will face Ivory Coast in the round of 32 on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas. France will play the same day in East Rutherford, New Jersey, against one of the eight best third-place finishers.

Mbappé nearly put France ahead just 21 seconds after kickoff. He raced down the right flank and unleashed a shot that struck the crossbar beyond Selvik's outstretched arm.

Dembélé opened the scoring after collecting a pass from Mbappé in space and firing a right-footed shot across Selvik.

For his second goal, the Paris Saint-Germain forward found room between three defenders at the edge of the penalty area and curled a left-footed effort beyond Selvik's diving attempt.

Norway had a chance to cut the deficit in the 49th minute when France defender Theo Hernandez was penalized for tripping Oscar Bobb in the box. But Jørgen Strand Larsen's penalty toward the right corner was saved by France goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

Before the match, French fans displayed a banner reading "AVEC TOI DIDIER" ("With you, Didier") in support of France coach Didier Deschamps, whose mother, Ginette Deschamps, died this week.

Deschamps missed Friday's match to be with his family in France, leaving assistant coach Guy Stéphan in charge.

Stéphan said Deschamps would rejoin the team for Saturday's training session.

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