Didier Deschamps rejoined the France camp for the FIFA World Cup after his mother's death. In his absence, France beat Norway 4-1, with Ousmane Dembele scoring a historic first-half hat-trick to secure a perfect group stage record.
Deschamps rejoins squad
France head coach Didier Deschamps rejoined the national team camp at the ongoing FIFA World Cup after a brief return home following the death of his mother, announced the French Football Federation (FFF) on Saturday. Didier missed out on the final group stage match between France and Norway due to the death of his mother, with assistant coach Guy Stephan taking his place. Deschamps went back home to attend his mother's funeral.
"Didier is with us," the federation said in a message to the media as quoted by Reuters. Deschamps has been a vital part of the French setup, guiding them to their second FIFA World Cup title in 2018 and to a runners-up finish next to Argentina, led by Lionel Messi. France is based in Boston and will play Sweden on Tuesday at New Jersey in their round of 32 clash. Amongst his other honours for France is the UEFA Nations League title back in 2020-21 and also third spot in the 2024-25 edition.
France dominate Norway to top group
Ousmane Dembele's historic World Cup hat-trick and Kylian Mbappe's assists were the highlights as France went on a rampage against a Haaland-less Norway, securing a 4-1 win to go into the round of 32 in style. As per OptaJoe, it is for the first time since the 1998 FIFA World Cup that France has won all three group stage matches in a major competition. The 1998 edition saw France win their first-ever global crown, beating Brazil in the title clash. So, repeating a clean sweep in the group stage is an ominous sign to the world that France are ready to add a third star to their jersey.
Dembele-Mbappe duo make history
As per Opta Analyst, the pairing of Dembele and Mbappe is only the third duo to combine for five goals during one single FIFA World Cup, with Mbappe delivering two assists to Dembele in the Norway clash. The other pairs to do so in a single FIFA WC are Poland's Andrzej Szarmach and Grzegorz Lato and Germany's Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack.
France's impressive goal-scoring run
France have scored three goals in each of their last FIFA World Cup matches, the joint longest run of a side scoring three or more goals in successive WC matches, and the longest since Spain did it between 1998 and 2002.
Dembele's record-breaking hat-trick
Dembele scripted history as he became the first player to net a first-half hat trick at the FIFA World Cup since Oleg Salenko in 1994. Dembele achieved this feat against Norway in their final FIFA World Cup group stage match at Foxborough on Friday.
Dembele's hat-trick just 32 minutes into this game is the second earliest a player has scored a FIFA World Cup hat-trick in a match, behind Erich Probst in 1954 for Austria against Czechoslovakia (24 minutes), as per OptaJoe.
Dembele is also just the third French player to score a FIFA World Cup hat-trick, joining Just Fontaine and Kylian Mbappe. Dembele's hat-trick goal was the first of the 182 scored at this FIFA World Cup to feature every one of his team's 11 players involved in the build-up, as per OptaJoe. (ANI)
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