Overview
- France beat Norway 4-1 on Friday with Ousmane Dembélé scoring a first-half hat-trick to clinch top spot in their group.
- Deschamps's switch of Dembélé to the right has tightened France's forward quartet of Dembélé, Michael Olise, Kylian Mbappé and Désiré Doué and improved their attacking links.
- Norway rested stars Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard in the final match, a rotation that drew public criticism and defence from coach Ståle Solbakken while Norway still advanced to face Ivory Coast.
- Underdogs supplied major stories as Cape Verde reached the knockouts in their World Cup debut and Senegal beat Iraq 5-0 to become the first African side to score five goals in a single World Cup match.
- Spain progressed but must await tests on Yéremi Pino and Nico Williams for injuries, and the expanded 48-team format left tight third-place permutations that saw Iran narrowly miss out on advancement.