Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick as England beat France 6-4 to take the World Cup bronze medal at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Two of the three came before the interval. The last, and the one that mattered most, was tucked away from the penalty spot in the 87th minute, at the exact point a stroll had turned into a scrap.
Ten goals in all, four of them France's. England had to earn this bronze twice over.
Saka sets the tone
For 45 minutes England were irresistible, and the Arsenal winger was the pick of them. Declan Rice opened the scoring inside three minutes. Ezri Konsa doubled the lead on 18. Then came Saka, twice: a finish on 37 and another in first-half stoppage time, two goals in the space of nine minutes to send England in 4-0 up and, so it seemed, out of sight.
It was the kind of half that flatters a side and settles the nerves all at once. France barely laid a glove on their opponents. Saka, drifting in off the right, tormented the flank every time the ball found him, and by the interval England looked to have the bronze wrapped up with 45 minutes to spare.
France turn it into a scrap
Whatever Didier Deschamps said at the break, it worked, for a while at least. This was the France manager's final match in charge, and his players refused to let it become a procession. Kylian Mbappe pulled one back three minutes after the restart. Bradley Barcola made it 4-2 on 54. When Mbappe struck again on 66, the four-goal cushion had shrunk to one, and a game that looked dead had a pulse.
England, so comfortable an hour earlier, were suddenly hanging on. The half-time certainty had drained away, and France, sensing a comeback few had thought possible, poured forward in search of a fourth.
For Deschamps, it made for a bruising farewell. His side spent the second half proving they could have won, and the first half proving exactly why they would not.
Saka has the final word
Three France goals in 18 second-half minutes had turned a rout into a nervy finish, and one more would have levelled it. The steadying hand, when it was needed most, belonged to Saka again. England won a penalty in the 87th minute and he made no mistake from twelve yards, restoring the two-goal cushion at 5-3 and completing his treble. It was the calm the afternoon demanded.
France still had one more twist in them. Ousmane Dembele dragged them back to 5-4 deep into stoppage time, but Jude Bellingham answered almost immediately to settle it at 6-4. Bronze, then, and some consolation for a side that came up short in the semi-finals. Chaotic, occasionally alarming, never dull, and Saka the through line in all of it.
What comes next
The bigger prize is still to be decided. Argentina meet Spain in the final at MetLife Stadium at 15:00 ET, with the trophy and, as it happens, the Golden Boot both on the line. Mbappe's double here carried him to 10 goals and clear at the top of the scoring charts. Lionel Messi, on eight, needs at least two goals against Spain to reel him back in.
For Saka, that is a story for others to write. He leaves Miami with a hat-trick and a medal, even if it is not quite the colour England came for.
Sources
- ESPN
- FIFA
- Al Jazeera
- Cover photo: Thomon / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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