World Cup Roundup: Dembélé Does It By Himself; Spain Scrapes By Again

The day was supposed to be defined by Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé going head-to-head at the World Cup, and Lamine Yamal facing his biggest test of the tournament yet. It ended with Haaland riding the bench, Mbappé and Yamal failing to score and Ousmane Dembélé stealing the show.

Here is everything you might have missed on Day 16 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup:

BEST OF THE DAY

Moment Of The Day

Ousmane Dembélé was absolutely unguardable in France’s 4-1 win vs. Norway on Friday at Boston Stadium. The 2025 Ballon d’Or winner scored a first-half hat-trick and brought his overall tally for the tournament to four goals, one shy of the tournament-high. Dembélé had gone 19 previous major international tournament games without scoring a goal before France’s last game; he now has four in the last two.

Goal Of The Day

Pape Gueye has not started a match for Senegal at the 2026 FIFA World Cup; that might not be the case for much longer, with Senegal successfully advancing to the round of 32.

In 33 minutes against Iraq, Gueye scored two goals and recorded an assist. He ended the match with the highest number of goal contributions on the team (3) despite coming on as a substitute in the 56th minute. Super sub.

Assist Of The Day

Nicolas Raskin and Romelu Lukaku both subbed on in the 85th minute. One minute later, the two connected on Belgium’s fourth goal of the night as Lukaku drove it home. Talk about instant impact.

Save Of The Day

Any hope Norway had of mounting a comeback against France was crushed when Les Bleus goalkeeper Mike Maignan denied Jørgen Strand Larsen from the penalty spot. Maignan is the second French goalkeeper to save a penalty in the World Cup — excluding shootouts — after Joel Bats against Zico in the 1986 quarter-final against Brazil.

Norway vs. France

France won Group I and will play a third-place team from Group F or G. Norway finished as the runner-up and will play Ivory Coast on June 30 in Arlington.
France won all three of its group matches in a single World Cup for just the second time, after 1998. This is the fourth time in a row that France has topped its group, one more than in its previous 12 group stage appearances.
Dembélé’s first-half hat-trick is the first one at a World Cup since Oleg Salenko in 1994, and the second-earliest hat-trick in World Cup history. He is the third player to score a hat-trick for France at a men’s World Cup, after Just Fontaine (two in 1958) and Mbappé (one in 2022).

(Photo by Daniel Castelo Branco/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

France is the first team since Poland in 1974 to have two players (Mbappé and Dembélé) score four or more goals in a single group stage at a World Cup (five by Andrzej Szarmach and four by Grzegorz Lato, first group stage).
Friday’s game was the 15th World Cup start for Mbappé. He is the youngest player (27 years and 188 days old) to make 15 starts in World Cup history, and he is only two starts shy of tying Raphaël Varane for the most World Cup starts of any French player ever.

Norway vs France Extended Highlights | 2026 FIFA World Cup™

Senegal vs. Iraq

Senegal finished third in the group and will wait to see if it advances as one of the top-eight third-place teams. Senegal is seeking to make consecutive World Cup knockout stages for the first time ever.
Iraq became the fourth nation to lose its first six World Cup matches. Iraq has been outscored 16-2 in its two World Cup appearances.
Senegal’s Ismaïla Sarr, Pape Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye all scored and assisted for Senegal vs. Iraq. It marks the first time a team had three players accomplish that feat in a World Cup match since Germany in its 7-1 win over Brazil in 2014 (Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira, Thomas Müller).

(Photo by Ezra Shaw – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Sarr became the first Senegal player to both score and assist in a World Cup match, and is now also the outright leading scorer for Senegal at the World Cup with four goals.
Senegal’s Iliman Ndiaye became the first player in World Cup history to come on as a substitute and then score a goal, assist a goal, have five touches in the opposition box and make five dribbles.

Senegal vs Iraq Extended Highlights | 2026 FIFA World Cup™

Uruguay vs. Spain

Spain won Group H with seven points (2W-1D-0L) and will play the runner-up of Group J on July 2 in Los Angeles. Spain has now gone unbeaten in the World Cup group stage seven times before (1950, 1990, 1994, 2002, 2006 and 2018).
Uruguay has been eliminated from advancing to the knockout stage. Uruguay has gone winless in World Cup group play four times now (1974, 1986, 2002 and 2026).
Spain is now unbeaten in 33 straight games (24W-9D-0L) since March 2024, the second-longest undefeated run in team history, only behind a 35-game streak snapped by the U.S. in June 2009 in the Confederations Cup semifinals.
This is the first time in the history of the World Cup that Spain completed the group stage of a World Cup without conceding a single goal.
When Lamine Yamal starts, Spain remains unbeaten at 17W-6D-0L.

Uruguay vs Spain Extended Highlights | 2026 FIFA World Cup™

Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia

Cape Verde became the first World Cup debutant to make it past the group stage since Slovakia in 2010.
Cape Verde is the smallest nation by population size (approximately 525,000) to ever advance to the World Cup knockout stage.
Vozinha is the third goalkeeper to record multiple World Cup clean sheets after turning 40 years old, joining Peter Shilton (3) and Dino Zoff (2).

(Rico Brouwer/Soccrates/Getty Images)

Saudi Arabia has been eliminated from advancing.
Cape Verde is the first team to advance from the group stage of a World Cup with three draws since Chile in 1998.

Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia Extended Highlights | 2026 FIFA World Cup™

New Zealand vs. Belgium

Belgium won Group G and will play a third-place team from Group A, I, or J in Seattle on July 1.
New Zealand was eliminated from the tournament with a loss. It ended the tournament with one point.
Kevin De Bruyne is the first player in Belgium’s history to score in three different World Cups (2014, 2018 and 2026). He is also now the oldest Belgian to score at a World Cup at 34 years and 363 days old.
Romelu Lukaku scored his sixth World Cup goal, passing Marc Wilmots for the most of any Belgian in World Cup history.
Elijah Just scored his third goal of the tournament. He is New Zealand’s all-time leading goalscorer at the World Cup.

New Zealand vs Belgium Extended Highlights | 2026 FIFA World Cup™

Egypt vs. Iran

Egypt finished as the Group G runner-up and will play Australia on July 3 in Arlington. This is the first time Egypt has advanced to the knockout stage of a World Cup, excluding the 1934 World Cup, which had no group stage.
Iran finished in third in Group G and will have to wait and see if it advances as one of the eight best third-place teams. Iran has never gotten out of the group stage in its six previous World Cup appearances.
Emam Ashour scored his second career goal for Egypt. His first two goals for Egypt have come in this World Cup.
Ramin Rezaeian scored his second World Cup goal of the tournament and the third of his career. With his three goals and one assist in World Cups, he now has the most goal contributions of any Iranian player in World Cup history, with four.
Iran remains winless all-time (0W-5D-11L) at the World Cup when conceding first.