France forward Ousmane Dembélé scores a first-half World Cup hat trick against Norway
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — France forward Ousmane Dembélé scored a first-half hat trick, including one off a feed from Kylian Mbappé, to give his team a 3-1 lead over Norway at the World Cup on Friday.
Dembélé's goals came in the seventh, 20th and 32nd minutes. It was the first first-half hat trick at the World Cup since Russia forward Oleg Salenko scored three of his five goals in the opening 45 minutes against Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
Dembélé, who has now scored four goals at this year's World Cup, left the game in the 65th minute. He was replaced by Bradley Barcola.
The fastest World Cup hat trick took only 7 minutes, 42 seconds. Hungary striker Laszlo Kiss, who had come on as a substitute, managed that feat late in the match against El Salvador at the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
The quickest World Cup hat trick from the start of the match occurred at the 1954 tournament in Switzerland when Austria striker Erich Probst scored his three goals in the opening 24 minutes against Czechoslovakia.
France, which won the World Cup in 2018 and lost in the final four years ago, had already secured its place in the knockout round before Friday's match. Norway is also assured of a spot in the round of 32.
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