In the third round of the 2026 World Cup, the French national team played at Gillette Stadium this Friday, facing Norway and securing a 4-1 victory. Five Paris Saint-Germain players—all French—featured in the match: Lucas Hernandez, Warren Zaïre-Emery, Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola, and Ousmane Dembélé. Here are the press ratings for Les Bleus.
Le Parisien:
Mbappé (7.5)
Doué (6) – Olise (5) – Dembélé (9)
Koné (6) – Tchouaméni (6.5)
T. Hernandez (4) – Lacroix (6) – Upamecano (4.5) – Koundé (5)
Maignan (7)
L’Equipe:
Mbappé (7)
Doué (5) – Olise (5) – Dembélé (9)
Koné (7) – Tchouaméni (6)
T. Hernandez (4) – Lacroix (5) – Upamecano (4) – Koundé (4)
Maignan (7)
These ratings seem logical for a French side that was generally superior throughout the match, even though the defense struggled at times against a reshuffled Norway team. There are still areas to fine-tune, but the attacking potential is being confirmed—this time with Dembélé scoring a hat-trick.
Doué also got on the scoresheet, netting the first header of his career. It is very encouraging for the future, especially with Mbappé playing a team-oriented game. Of course, they will need to back this up with another strong performance. That challenge comes against Sweden on Tuesday night at 11 PM in the Round of 32—an opponent that appears beatable, but one that certainly won’t be taking it easy.
