The whole world sat watching, awaiting the heavyweight battle that the whole of football had been building up to, Haaland versus Mbappe at Boston Stadium. Unfortunately for us football fans, that wasn't to be the case, as Stale Solbakken, Norway manager made a drastic, bold decision to rest most of his starting 11 including his two talisman, Haaland and Odegaard.
Solbakken made an incredible ten changes, as he opted to save his stars energy in the knowledge that Norway's place in the knock-out stage was already assured.
However, up against a France squad playing a very strong hand, including their Ballon d'or winner Ousmane Dembele, that plan backfired spectacularly as the French took absolutely zero prisoners, ripping into the under-strength Scandinavian's with a clinical 4-1 rout.
Dembele writes himself in the history books
The game began and only 25 seconds in Mbappe hit the woodwork and the B team Norway panicked and the game from that moment on, was about to descend into chaos. But it wasn't Mbappe who was about to do damage as all eyes turned to former Barcelona player Ousmane Dembele, who ran riot on the right-wing, showcasing the ruthless finishing skills that has made us all stand up and pay attention.
Demble fired in the opener on 7 minutes as he cut inside, weaving between defenders before picking his spot into the left-hand corner. Norway's dreams were shattered by an in-form Demble who, at minute 20, bagged his second with another brilliant finish into the far corner.
Just 60 seconds later, Norway were almost in dreamland when Aasgaard fired home to make it 1-2. But, Dembele had other plans and it was three-on the half an hour as he grabbed a hat-trick for a truly astonishing feat that only has been replicated by a few legends in World Cup history.
Demble became the first player to score a hat-trick in the first half of a FIFA World Cup since Oleg Salenko of Russia back in 1994.
A Missed penalty and a late dagger
Second half had a little less sparkle as both teams effectively, played the match out but there was a real chance for the Norwegian's to make a game of it, when they were awarded a penalty in the 49th minute but somehow Strand Larsen missed the spot-kick, effectively killing any sort of momentum that had begun to build.
Then the French started to turn on the clock with French assistant manager Stephane managing minutes after bringing on Gusto and Mateta, to save legs for the next round after Desire Doue added a fourth in stoppage time to wrap up an emphatic win for the French.
Final Group I positions
The top half of Group I has been settled, with the French winning the group without losing a single match, booking their place into the knockout stages with a perfect nine points from three games, and will be squaring up against Sweden in the Round of 32.
While the Norway team with Haaland and most of their starting 11 fresh as ever, they will be up for their meeting with Ivory Coast in the next round.
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