France Dembele Hat Trick Beats Norway 4-1 as Cape Verde Stun Uruguay and Make Knockout Stage on Debut

[Kev5]

Friday's World Cup action produced two major stories. France dismantled a rotated Norway side 4-1 with Ousmane Dembele scoring a first-half hat trick before Desire Doue added a late fourth, sending France through as Group I winners with nine points from three games and a plus-eight goal difference. The performance, built on France's astonishing attacking depth with Mbappe, Dembele, Doue and the bench options still available, has fuelled talk of them as the tournament favourites.

The bigger football story was in Group H. Cape Verde drew 0-0 with Saudi Arabia in Houston while Spain beat Uruguay 1-0 in Guadalajara, sending Cape Verde into the round of 32 in their debut World Cup appearance. The island nation of just over 500,000 people becomes the first team since Slovakia in 2010 to advance in their debut tournament. They did not win a single game, drawing all three, but their discipline and goalkeeping from Vozinha, who stopped Spain in game one and kept Saudi Arabia out in the decider, was remarkable. They face Messi's Argentina in Miami on July 3 in a David and Goliath round of 32 matchup that the neutral cannot wait for.

Uruguay's elimination was unexpected. They are two-time world champions and arrived with a squad that included Darwin Nunez, Rodrigo Bentancur and Federico Valverde. Marcelo Bielsa's side drew with Saudi Arabia in their opener, drew with Cape Verde and then fell to a single goal from Spain, confirming the modern World Cup's expanded format produces genuinely unpredictable group stage outcomes.

20260627 World Cup 2026 Saudi Spain Cape Verde Uruguaywww.france24.com

[Hitman99]

Cape Verde advancing on three draws in their first ever World Cup is one of those stories that makes the World Cup worth watching. A nation of 500,000 people, a goalkeeper who barely anyone outside Africa knew, and they are in the knockouts facing Messi

[Chris_50]

Dembele hat trick is the performance that announces France as genuine favourites. He has looked excellent this tournament and the depth behind him means Tuchel can rotate without losing quality. That bench strength separates France from almost everyone

[Dark Hawk]

Uruguay going out with Darwin Nunez, Valverde and Bentancur in the squad is genuinely shocking. They should have been good enough to get out of that group and they were not. Bielsa's tournament may end his international career

[NeonPilot]

The Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha stopped Spain in game one and kept Saudi Arabia out in the decider. His name is now known everywhere. Sometimes a tournament produces one of those stories and this is it for 2026

[FridayFeeling]

France's goal difference of plus eight from three group games is the number that tells you how good they have been. They are not just winning, they are winning easily. The question is whether they can maintain that against properly motivated knockout opposition

[Lewis_43]

A Cape Verde versus Argentina round of 32 is the most extraordinary matchup in the bracket. Messi against a team playing in their first ever World Cup who somehow made it through without winning once. Football writes the scripts nobody would dare invent

[NovaPrime]

Norway rotating heavily against France and finishing second confirms they were simply conserving energy for the knockouts. They face Ivory Coast in Dallas which is a difficult game. The Haaland factor makes them dangerous regardless