MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Bukayo Saka‘s hat trick helped England survive a dramatic second-half comeback to beat France 6-4 in Saturday’s chaotic third-place playoff and secure their best finish at a World Cup since 1966.
England were 4-0 up at the break in Miami as a shambolic France side were dismantled through goals from Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and two Saka strikes.
Both teams made seven changes following their semifinal defeats but in his final match in charge after 14 years at the helm, Didier Deschamps introduced four substitutes at halftime including Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola in an attempt to trigger a response.
It began just three minutes after the restart. Michael Olise found Kylian Mbappé in space and his first-time left-foot finish beat Dean Henderson.
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Six minutes later, Mbappé turned provider, sending Barcola clear to finish inside Henderson’s near post before Mbappé finished another France move to score his 10th goal of the tournament and move him back ahead of Lionel Messi as the men’s all-time World Cup goalscorer on 22 goals.
Olise — whose seven assists in a single World Cup campaign is another record — missed a glorious chance to equalise, somehow sidefooting wide from 12 yards out, before England finally steadied themselves.
Djed Spence burst into the box on the overlap and was brought down by Malo Gusto. Saka converted the 87th-minute penalty to become only the fourth men’s player to score a World Cup hat trick for England.
There was still time for France to respond again as Dembélé cut in on his left foot to finish but substitute Jude Bellingham had the final say, driving into the box before finishing from close range to secure a memorable win.
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Bellingham’s late strike made him the first Englishman to score seven goals in a single World Cup campaign.
The 10 goals were the most scored in a World Cup match since Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 in 1982.
Information from ESPN’s Global Sports Research contributed to this report.
