France forward Ousmane Dembélé scores a first-half World Cup hat trick in 4-1 win over Norway

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Not so fast, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé. Ousmane Dembélé has just entered the Golden Boot race.

Dembélé scored a first-half hat trick, including one off a feed from Mbappé, to help France beat Norway 4-1 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.

“It is a unique moment,” Dembélé said. “But the most important was to finish first of the group in the group stage, and we are focused on the round of 32, which is the most important.”

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 was also assured of a spot in the round of 32 and ended up in second place in the group.

Désiré Doué scored France's final goal in second-half injury time.

Dembélé said changing their approach in the final group match was never a consideration. France has 10 goals through three games.

“We want to win all our matches, but we remain focused,” Dembélé said.

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.

Dembélé, who won Ballon d’Or as Europe’s top player in 2025 and has now scored four goals at this year's World Cup, left the game in the 65th minute. He was replaced by Bradley Barcola.

Thelo Aasgaard got Norway on the scoreboard after Dembélé’s second goal, finding the back of the net only 14 seconds after the restart. But Dembélé added his third goal less than nine minutes later to push the lead back to two.

Dembélé increased his international goal total to eight while Mbappe now has 16 goals and four assists in 17 World Cup matches. He scored two goals in each of France’s wins over Senegal and Iraq.

Erling Haaland was among 10 regular starters absent from Norway’s starting lineup, presumably to rest. The wholesale changes included Egil Selvik starting in goal in place of Orjan Nyland.

Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said resting so many players was an easy decision for him.

“The break that we had from the last game to this game was the shortest of any team. ... So it's a no-brainer,” he said. “The fans around Norway and also in the arena would have like to see Erling. But that is not really the issue. We want to proceed as long as we can in the tournament.”

The Norwegians will next face Ivory Coast in the round of 32 on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas. France will play the same day against one of the eight best third-place finishers in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Mbappé nearly got France on the scoreboard only 21 seconds into the game. He sprinted up the right side and sent a hard shot that hit the crossbar beyond the outstretched arm of Selvik.

Dembélé was operating in space for his first goal when he took took a pass from Mbappé and blasted a right-footed shot across Selvik.

On the Paris Saint-Germain player’s second goal, Dembélé found space between three defenders at the top of the box and fired in a left-footer beyond Selvik’s diving save attempt.

Norway had a chance to close the gap back to one goal in the 49th when France defender Theo Hernandez was whistled for tripping Oscar Bobb in the box. But Jorgen Strand Larsen’s penalty shot toward the right corner was batted away by France goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

Before the game, French fans in attendance displayed a banner reading “AVEC TOI DIDIER” (With you Didier), acknowledging France coach Didier Deschamps' mother, Ginette Deschamps, who died this week. The coach missed the match against Norway on Friday because he was in France with family, leaving assistant Guy Stéphan in charge.

Stéphan said Deschamps would rejoin the team for its next training session on Saturday.

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

France's Jules Kounde (5) plays the ball against Norway's Andreas Schjelderup (21) during the World Cup Group I soccer match between Norway and France in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

France goalkeeper Mike Maignan reacts at the end of the World Cup Group I soccer match between Norway and France in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

France's Kylian Mbappe (10) and Ousmane Dembele (7) celebrate after scoring during the World Cup Group I soccer match between Norway and France in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

France's Ousmane Dembele (7), right, celebrates with France's Kylian Mbappe (10) after scoring his side's third goal during the World Cup Group I soccer match between Norway and France in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

France's Ousmane Dembele celebrates with Kylian Mbappe, right, after scoring his side's third goal during the World Cup Group I soccer match between Norway and France in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Utah restricted fireworks and declared a state of emergency Friday ahead of July Fourth celebrations as the United States' largest wildfire mushroomed in size. The National Weather Service issued a rare “Particularly Dangerous Situation” warning as dry, windy conditions provided fuel for more fires across the western U.S.

The Cottonwood Fire in a sparsely populated area of southern Utah started Monday. It reached more than 112 square miles (290 square kilometers) Friday and was uncontained, forestry officials said. One of six large wildfires burning in Utah, it severely damaged the Eagle Point ski resort in Beaver County, forcing mandatory evacuations.

Smoke from the fire has been pushing to the east and northeast, meaning the air quality at popular vacation spots like Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks — located far south of the flames — hasn’t been significantly affected beyond some haze in the Bryce area. Still, visitors to Bryce have posted videos on social media showing the giant plume in the distance.

The smoke could further be seen for hundreds of miles, all the way to Colorado, as authorities put roughly 1,300 residents in the towns of Marysvale, Junction and Circleville on notice that they should be prepared to leave if conditions worsen and the fire pushes further.

“This is unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory,” state forester Jamie Barnes said in a statement Thursday. “We’re seeing fires spread farther and faster under conditions that defy historical expectations. Some of the fires we’ve responded to this year are behaving in ways veteran firefighters simply haven’t seen before.”

Bruce Brown, 76, accompanied the sheriff on Thursday to find that his cabin and others in the area were gone.

“It looks a lot like the moon,” Brown said. “Just burned out. Power poles tipped over all up the canyon.”

Alyssa Olsen, 27, said her family’s cabin also burned, including memorabilia from her grandfather’s time in the ski patrol. It was the last place they gathered for family photos with her grandmother before she died of cancer. Her brother was to get married there in two months.

“That stuff you can’t just build back,” Olsen said.

Gov. Spencer Cox set the temporary fireworks restrictions through July 5 as the nation prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, saying “this year is different.”

The weather service in Salt Lake City, for the first time in the office's history, issued a “ Particularly Dangerous Situation ” warning for five Utah counties, including the area of the Cottonwood Fire. The rare alert was first used to warn of tornado conditions. A red flag warning also was issued for most of the state.

“Prepare now for rapid fire growth,” it said.

A similar “dangerous situation” warning had been issued for the 2025 Palisades Fire in Los Angeles. A federal judge declared a mistrial Friday in the arson case against Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of sparking that fire. The jury said it couldn't agree on a verdict.

While the Cottonwood Fire's cause was unknown, Cox’s order noted that humans have been the cause of most fires in the state so far this year.

The governor’s order gives Barnes power to restrict or prohibit fireworks displays in Utah’s cities and towns, instead of leaving those decisions to the communities.

With extreme fire conditions persisting, Rocky Mountain Power issued a public safety power shut-off watch/warning for areas of central, southern and eastern Utah through the weekend.

Crews also were battling the Iron Fire southwest of Salt Lake City. The flames on Thursday forced the temporary evacuation of Eureka, population 1,000.

Red flag warnings, which mean conditions such as low humidity, warm temperatures and strong winds can create an extreme wildfire risk, were in effect Friday and stretched from Idaho to southern Arizona and New Mexico.

The warnings extended into Saturday, with forecasters predicting winds of 25 to 35 miles an hour (40 km/h to 56 km/h) and very low humidity levels. The worst conditions were expected from northern Arizona into central and southern Utah.

Much of Utah already is experiencing severe to extreme drought, while parts of Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico are experiencing severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Tim Brown, a research professor and director of the Western Regional Climate Center, said the potential for extreme fire behavior will remain as long as it's hot, dry and windy.

“I would not be surprised to see a lot of restrictions come out as we get closer to the July Fourth weekend,” he said. “People really need to be aware of their surroundings if they’re going to be out in the forested campground areas and grassland areas.”

Even in Florida, where there have been multiple brush fires, authorities are urging people to skip the personal fireworks and instead leave the pyrotechnics to professionals putting on carefully planned shows.

In Utah, federal land managers have closed public lands near the Cottonwood Fire as a precaution, and in New Mexico, forest officials closed campgrounds and trails near a wildfire burning in the Jemez Mountains.

Nationally, nearly 3 million acres have burned since the start of the year, pushing the U.S. ahead of the 10-year average. The National Interagency Fire Center said firefighters are making progress on containing fires from Alaska to Florida.

Associated Press reporter Sudhin Thanawala contributed to this story.

This story has been corrected; the state forester's first name is spelled Jamie, not Jaime.

This undated image provided by the U.S. Forest Service Friday, June 26, 2026, shows firefighters responding to the Cottonwood Fire on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, above Birch Lake, near Beaver, Utah. (Mike McMillan/U.S. Forest Service via AP)