Coach Guy Stéphan praised Ousmane Dembélé after his hat-trick against Norway

In the recent match, coach Guy Stéphan, on behalf of coach Didier Deschamps, led the French team to a 4-1 victory over Norway's reserve team, thereby confirming the leading position in Group I. In the post-match press conference, Stéphan confirmed that coach Deschamps will return to the French team in the US on Saturday to lead the training session. "I'll call him later," said Stéphan, Deschamps' right-hand man.

At the age of 69, Stéphan also praised Ousmane Dembélé's "accurate" performance, emphasizing that the Paris Saint-Germain player was not affected by criticism in this tournament. He also rejected the idea that Dembélé is not as highly regarded as Kylian Mbappé in the French squad. "Top quality players can play together. For me, it's not a matter of whether or not there is a star player. When two, three or four players 'feel' football the same way, it only benefits the French team," he said.

When asked about comparisons between the current squad and the French squad that reached the final three and a half years ago, Stéphan said that this year's squad has not been able to assert itself. "I think it's too early to say now. More than half of the squad has never participated in a World Cup before; we have many young players. We will have to wait and see how the competition goes, and whether we raise our level against strong teams, which will happen very soon.

"At the moment, I don't think we are stronger," Stéphan continued. "To get stronger, you need to have both an offensive and defensive aspect. Balancing between those two factors is very important."