France forward Ousmane Dembele scored a first-half hat-trick as Les Bleus beat Norway 4-1 to win Group I at Boston Stadium on Friday, while Norway rested star Erling Haaland on the bench.

Both teams had already clinched places in the round of 32 before the group finale: France would top the group with a win or a draw, while Norway needed victory to finish first.

The first half was played at a high tempo as Kylian Mbappe tested Norway's defense in the first minute, racing down the right and firing a shot that rattled the underside of the crossbar.

In the seventh minute, Dembele opened the scoring with a powerful strike into the top right corner after Mbappe's cross.

Jorgen Strand Larsen had an opportunity to level in the 14th minute, but his shot went too high.

France extended the lead to 2-0 in the 20th minute when Dembele received from Mbappe, cut inside from the right and produced a perfect finish, shortly after Mbappe had a shot saved by the goalkeeper.

Norway pulled one back through winger Thelo Aasgaard a minute later with a fine low strike from outside the area.

But France seemed unstoppable as Dembele completed a hat-trick in the 32nd minute with another precise finish into the far post.

Dembele's treble is the sixth first-half hat-trick in World Cup history and the first since Oleg Salenko's for Russia against Cameroon in 1994. It's also the third hat-trick scored at the current tournament after Argentina's Lionel Messi and Canada's Jonathan David.

Norway missed a chance to narrow the gap in the 50th minute when France goalkeeper Mike Maignan dived low to his left to save Strand Larsen's penalty.

In the 56th minute, Norway goalkeeper Egil Selvik received treatment after hurting himself diving to stop a thunderous Mbappe shot that flashed just inches past the post.

In stoppage time Desire Doue headed in Bradley Barcola's cross to seal the win for France.

"I'm pleased - it's a unique and important moment for me," said Dembele. "It's exceptional. The most important thing is to finish top of the group and stay focused for the rest of the competition."

"We want to win every match, and we'll keep our focus because what's coming next is even more important," he added.

The battle between star strikers Mbappe and Haaland failed to materialize when Norway opted to rest 10 of their players. Norway coach Stale Solbakken said that after reviewing players post-Senegal, five or six players, mainly defenders and midfielder were fatigued after 80 minutes, so staff advised rotating to protect readiness.

"The decision to rotate was a no-brainer and didn't take long. We would have liked to have Erling [Haaland] and Martin [Odegaard] available, but we must do what gives us the best chance to progress," he said.

"On the game itself, offensively we did well and created five or six chances in the first half. We missed the penalty and then faced counterattacks. Overall, players worked hard and produced a good performance against one of the world's top teams," he added.

France was without coach Didier Deschamps, who has dashed home for his mother's funeral but is returning for the next game. Assistant coach Guy Stephan spoke high of the players.

"First of all, our thoughts are with Didier [Deschamps]. We can't wait to have him back and he'll be with us at training tomorrow. As for the game, we did what we needed to do. There was a lot of enjoyment in the way we played, plenty of intensity and plenty of chances.

"We scored four goals. Ousmane got a hat-trick and Desire Doue scored the first headed goal of his career. Those are all positive things and we need to build on them," he said.

France won Group I and will play a third-placed team from Group C, D, F, G or H in the Round of 32 in New York New Jersey on June 30, while Norway finished as runner-up and will meet Group E runner-up Cote d'Ivoire in Dallas the same day.

Haaland remains level with Mbappe on four goals. Dembele also has four after the hat-trick, as does Brazil's Vinicius Junior, all one behind Messi in the Golden Boot race.