Full Time
France put four past Norway to win Group I in style, with Ousmane Dembélé rattling in a first-half hat-trick inside 32 minutes to make the whole thing feel a bit one-sided. Thelo Aasgaard pulled one back for Norway immediately after the second goal, which briefly made it interesting, before Dembélé completed his treble and Doué added a fourth in stoppage time to put a tidy bow on it. France won all three group games without breaking too much of a sweat — only the second time they've managed that — and face Sweden in the round of 32. Norway go through too as Group I runners-up and have a crack at Ivory Coast next, so it's not all bad for them.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Both teams are already through to the round of 32, so this is a straight fight for who gets the easier side of the bracket. France top the group on goal difference right now and a draw keeps them there. Norway need a win to leapfrog them. Lose this and Norway are second, which — at a World Cup where the draw matters enormously — is not where you want to be.
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2These two haven't exactly built a fierce historical rivalry, but the last time Norway gave a major footballing nation a proper fright was at France 98 — the actual World Cup held in France. Norway beat Brazil in the group stage that year. They're back at a World Cup for the first time since, and they've drawn France. Someone in the scheduling office has a sense of humour.
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3Kylian Mbappé has four goals in two games and is now on 16 World Cup goals in total — two behind Lionel Messi's all-time record. He could break it tonight. That's the conversation-starter: you're potentially watching history, or at least the dress rehearsal for it. He's 27, playing in his third World Cup, and going after Messi's record in real time.
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4Norway's manager Ståle Solbakken has had to reshuffle his defence after right-back Julian Ryerson limped off after just 13 minutes against Senegal — not great timing with Mbappé running at you next. On the France side, manager Didier Deschamps is dealing with the death of his mother this week and has confirmed this World Cup will be his last with Les Bleus. This match has a strange emotional texture to it that goes beyond football.
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5Erling Haaland is at his first major international tournament — ever. He's scored in both group games (two braces, seven goals total for Norway across the group). But here's the thing: Norway's defence has conceded in every game too. This is a team that will absolutely score and absolutely let some in, against the team that's probably winning this tournament. If you like goals and mild chaos, this is your match.
Team Talking Points
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1Norway's tournament ended in the quarterfinal, beaten 2-1 by England on July 12 — heartbreak, but the end of the best World Cup run in the country's history.
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2This was Norway's first World Cup since 1998, a 28-year wait finally over after a perfect qualifying campaign: eight wins from eight, scoring 37 goals along the way, eight more than any other qualifier. They did not arrive as tourists.
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3The high point, and one of the moments of the whole tournament, was beating five-time champions Brazil 2-1 in the round of 16 on July 5. Erling Haaland scored twice in the last eleven minutes to send Brazil out of a World Cup earlier than they had at any point since 1990.
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4Haaland was the obvious headline act — goals in the win over Brazil, top scorer for his country all tournament — but captain Martin Ødegaard was the calm head running the midfield underneath him, the reason Norway looked composed rather than just dangerous.
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5A first-ever World Cup quarterfinal after 28 years in the wilderness is not a bad way to end a 'please just qualify for once' era. Norway go home as one of the genuine stories of the tournament, and nobody who watched it will forget the name Haaland.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Norway hadn't been to a World Cup since 1998, turned up and knocked Brazil out with a Haaland double in the last 11 minutes — one of the stories of the whole tournament, full stop.
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Avoid saying
Don't say 'shame they've only got Haaland' — Ødegaard ran an entire midfield to a first-ever quarterfinal. This was not a one-man show, even if the finishing was.
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1France finished the World Cup in fourth place after losing the third-place play-off 6-4 to England in Miami last night — genuinely one of the wildest scorelines of the whole tournament. Ten goals in a match both managers openly said they wished didn't exist is very on-brand for how that fixture always plays out.
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2Kylian Mbappé scored twice in the defeat and became the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer, taking his tally to 22 and passing Lionel Messi's previous record of 21. Slightly awkward timing — he made history in a match his team lost 6-4, so lead with the record, not the scoreline, and you'll sound like you know what you're talking about.
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3It was also Didier Deschamps' final game in charge of France after 14 years, during which he won the 2018 World Cup and reached the 2022 final. Bowing out with a 6-4 defeat in a play-off nobody wanted isn't the send-off anyone would have scripted, but a World Cup winner's medal means his legacy was never really in question.
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4France were already down to a patched-up defence, having lost William Saliba to a back injury in the semi-final loss to Spain. England took full advantage, with Bukayo Saka running riot — handy context for anyone wondering how a team this good let in six.
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5France arrived as reigning runners-up and one of the pre-tournament favourites; they leave in fourth after a semi-final defeat to Spain and a chaotic play-off loss. It's a comedown by their own recent standards, even if 'officially the fourth-best team on the planet' is still not a bad way to end a World Cup.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Mbappé became the all-time World Cup top scorer last night — 22 goals, more than Messi ever managed — and somehow still finished on the losing side of a 6-4.
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Avoid saying
"At least they racked up a good goal tally" — congratulating France on how many goals went in during a match they lost 6-4 is not the flex it sounds like, and any real fan will hear it as exactly the wrong takeaway.