France secured a commanding 4-1 victory over Norway in their World Cup group stage match on Friday, held in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The standout performance came from forward Ousmane Dembélé, who netted a first-half hat trick with goals in the 7th, 20th, and 32nd minutes. One of Dembélé’s goals was set up by teammate Kylian Mbappé. His three strikes marked the first first-half hat trick at a World Cup since Oleg Salenko scored three goals in the opening 45 minutes for Russia against Cameroon in the 1994 tournament hosted in the United States.

In Guadalajara, Mexico, Spain secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Uruguay. The match was influenced by a costly error from Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, contributing to Spain’s advancement to the knockout stage and resulting in the elimination of Uruguay, a traditionally strong South American team.

Senegal delivered a dominant 5-0 win against Iraq in Toronto. Playing with a one-man advantage after Iraq’s Rebin Sulaka was shown a first-half red card for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity for Senegalese star Sadio Mané, Senegal capitalized through multiple scorers. Pape Gueye scored twice in the second half as Senegal strengthened their chances of advancing from Group I, possibly through qualification as a third-place finisher.

In Houston, Cape Verde held Saudi Arabia to a goalless draw, securing their place in the knockout stages. The small island nation off the western coast of Africa continued an impressive group stage run with their third straight draw, having previously held 2010 champions Spain to a 0-0 draw. Cape Verde’s performance marks the smallest country ever to earn a spot in this phase of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Belgium cruised to a 5-1 victory over New Zealand in Vancouver, British Columbia. Leandro Trossard scored twice as Belgium delivered a commanding display after a slow start to the tournament. The win allowed Belgium to finish atop Group G, setting up a knockout round match against a third-place team on Wednesday in Seattle. Another Group G match played simultaneously in Seattle between Egypt and Iran ended in a 1-1 draw.