The iconography of the shootout is woven into the American psyche. It runs like a thread through the nation’s history from the Earps’ quarrel with the Clantons at the OK Corral through to Cagney and Bogart in the Roaring Twenties, Gary Cooper in High Noon, Clint Eastwood and a range of ne’er do wells in the Dirty Harry movies and Robert de Niro versus Al Pacino in Heat.
The gunslinger narrative is one of the reasons why this World Cup has got off to such a compelling start and has grabbed the imagination of the American audience.
This is a tournament that needed its superstars to live up to their billing to engage a neophyte audience and those superstars have swaggered out into the tournament like John Wayne in Rio Bravo.
Norway-France, in the lush New England countryside outside Boston, was supposed to be a classic battle of the gunslingers, with Kylian Mbappe lining up against Erling Haaland, and both teams vying to finish at the top of the group after two wins in their opening two matches.
Both Mbappe and Haaland are among the most feared forwards in the world. Both have four goals already in this World Cup, just one behind Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot that has captivated the global audience.
Ousmane Dembele put on a Ballon d’Or worthy display with a hat-trick up against Norway
The PSG star stole the show in Boston on a night where others were supposed to shine most
France, under the guidance of Guy Stephan, who was deputising for Didier Deschamps, back in France for the funeral of his mother, picked a strong team that included Mbappe. Norway manager Stale Solbakken waved the white flag and rested 10 players, including Haaland.
The decision ruined the narrative and spread a wave of disappointment around the ground.
Given this is a team that had not qualified for the World Cup for 28 years and whose fans had travelled here in their thousands to see their talisman play, it was hard for them, and for a worldwide audience, not to feel cheated of a great spectacle.
In Solbakken’s defence, Norway do not have the squad depth France enjoy and, in terms of the quality of opposition ahead, it appears to make very little difference whether you finish first or second in Group I.
The group winner’s path to the final includes Sweden in the Round of 32 and then possible fixtures against Germany, Holland and Spain. The runners-up route will feature Ivory Coast next, and then perhaps, Brazil, England and Argentina.
So Solbakken made his choice and we found out what it would have been like to be at the gunfight at the OK Corral only to discover someone had tied Wyatt Earp to a chair and left him in the saloon. Then we found out what happens when someone else emerges from the shadows and does all the shooting instead.
Because, in the end, this was about neither Haaland, nor Mbappe. It was about a game played with the kind of glorious abandon that is very much at odds with the usual constraints of tournament football, a match that rained with goals and excitement, a 4-1 victory for France that was often dazzling and which underlined their status as World Cup favourites.
And it was about Ousmane Dembele, the Ballon d’Or winner.
Until now, he had existed in this World Cup largely as a foil for Mbappe, unselfishly laying on his captain’s second goal in the defeat of Iraq in Philadelphia at the start of the week.
On Friday afternoon, though, the tables were turned. Mbappe became Dembele’s foil, laying on two goals for him as Dembele exploded into the tournament with a sublime first-half hat-trick. Pity the defences that have to deal with these two playing in tandem at the top of their game. They are irresistible.
Kylian Mbappe (left) turned provider for Dembele while Erling Haaland (left) was rested
Dembele, teed up twice by Mbappe in the first half, lit up a game played with glorious abandon
Pity Crystal Palace’s Jorgen Strand Larsen, too, who was drafted in as Haaland’s understudy, the guy who takes the stage knowing it’s someone else everybody has come to see. Strand Larsen played like a man who felt that pressure bearing down upon him.
Mbappe began the game in the same manner he has played throughout this tournament so far. He looked sharp, eager and hungry. He rampaged down the right and, from a tight angle, smashed a shot past Watford goalkeeper Egil Selvik and against the face of the crossbar.
It was the briefest of reprieves for Norway. Six minutes later, Ousmane Dembele reminded everyone fixated on the Mbappe-Haaland clash, that there is another decent forward in the France side.
Mbappe played a beautiful defence-splitting pass out to him on the right and the Ballon d’Or winner twisted his marker one way then the other and lashed a shot across Selvik into the net. It was a sublime strike.
Strand Larsen had a chance to mock his understudy status when he was presented with a chance but he lifted it over the bar. Everyone imagined Haaland would have scored it. Not long after, Mbappe wriggled away from his marker and spread the ball wide to Dembele again. Dembele cut inside his marker and curled another elegant finish past Selvik.
But then Norway’s second string interrupted the rout. Thelo Aasgaard, whose mother is French and who was born in Liverpool, found space on the edge of the France area, dropped his shoulder to fool a France defender and arrowed his shot into the bottom corner. It was a goal that would have graced even the Haaland collection.
Both teams were playing with an intoxicating freedom of expression. It was as if they had been freed from the normal constraints of tournament football. Dembele was the prime beneficiary. He completed his hat-trick in the 32nd minute with a copycat goal, drifting in from the right on his left foot and curling a low shot into the corner.
Dembele had been in the shadows to start this tournament but now has his crowning moment
It was the second quickest hat-trick in World Cup history. Erich Probst scored three goals for Austria inside the first 24 minutes of his country’s match against Czechoslovakia in the 1954 World Cup and Dembele is now next in the list. He has joined Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Haaland on four goals in the tournament.
Soon after half-time, Norway earned a chance to force their way back into the game. Fulham’s Oscar Bobb was upended by the outstretched leg of Theo Hernandez and Michael Oliver, who was having a fine game, awarded a penalty.
Haaland is Norway’s penalty-taker but that duty fell to the understudy. Strand Larsen fluffed his lines. His penalty was weak and Mike Maignan saved it easily.
It was about that time that the Norway fans started to chant Haaland’s name but Haaland stayed resolutely on the bench.
Desire Doue added a fourth for France with a firm header deep in time added on. No goals for Mbappe or Haaland but the gunslingers live to fight another day.
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