France assistant Guy Stephan said his team delivered a “special performance” during their 4-1 victory over Norway for the absent Didier Deschamps. 

Deschamps was not at Boston Stadium following the passing of his mother earlier in the week, but France and Ousmane Dembele produced a stunning display in his absence. 

Dembele put France into a seventh-minute lead before notching his brace 13 minutes later, becoming the first French player to net twice inside 20 minutes of a World Cup game.

Thelo Aasgaard quickly pulled one back for Norway, but Dembele completed his hat-trick by the 32nd minute, the second-earliest treble in the history of the World Cup. 

Norway missed a glorious chance to reduce the deficit five minutes after the restart, but Jorgen Strand Larsen’s penalty was saved by Mike Maignan, with Desire Doue adding further gloss to the scoreline late in the match. 

France have now scored at least three goals in each of their last four World Cup games, the joint longest run by any side scoring 3+ goals in consecutive World Cup matches. It’s the longest stretch since Spain did it between 1998 and 2002.

But, more importantly, their victory ensured they finished top of Group I, with Sweden their opponents in the last 32 as it stands, though Stephan paid tribute to Deschamps in his post-match assessment. 

“Obviously, all my thoughts go to Didier. I will call him later. We are all happy that he will be back with the ​team shortly. He will be at training tomorrow afternoon,” Stephan said. 

“All the players did what they had to do. Given that they ​are very close to Didier, the players wanted to do something special ​today on the pitch.”

3 – France have scored 3+ goals in each of their last four FIFA World Cup matches, the longest run by a team since Spain between 1998 and 2002 (4).

Menacing. pic.twitter.com/j2M2ncS37k

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And while Stephan was happy with the result, he acknowledged that there were areas of improvement to his team ahead of Deschamps’ return to North America. 

“There was a lot of enjoyment in the way we played, plenty of intensity and plenty of chances. We scored four goals,” Stephan added. 

“Ousmane got a hat-trick and Desire Doue scored the first headed goal of his career. Those are all positive things, and we need to build on them.

“That said, there were also moments when we weren’t quite at our best, and we need to iron those out. The further we go in this tournament, the stronger the opposition will be.

“We have to stay alert. We’re happy, we’ll enjoy this win, but tomorrow it’s back to work with Didier.”

Dembele has scored in consecutive appearances for France for the first time since June 2021, while it was the first time he’s ever scored more than once in a match for the national side as he announced himself at this year’s World Cup. 

Mbappe, who netted braces against Senegal and Iraq, also played his part. He has now been involved in 20 goals at the World Cup (16 goals, four assists) and is only the third player on record since 1966 to have 20+ goal involvements, along with Lionel Messi (18 goals, eight assists) and Miroslav Klose (16 goals, four assists).

Doue also played his part with a late finish, and the Paris Saint-Germain star pushed back the notion that his France team-mates were overconfident heading into the last 32. 

“We are very happy. We played a very good game collectively, offensively, and defensively we were very solid,” Doue said. “Is there a risk of overconfidence?

“I wouldn’t call it overconfidence. I think we know our qualities, we know that we have the quality to hurt all teams.

“We have talented players everywhere, we also understand each other on the pitch.

“Today, Ousmane [Dembele] scored a hat-trick, but it could be Kylian [Mbappe] or Michael [Olise]. Frankly, it’s magnificent. We have to continue like this.”