Saka Hat Trick Lifts England Past France 6-4 for Third Place

Bukayo Saka scored a hat trick as England held off France’s comeback to win 6-4 Saturday and claim the first third-place finish in its World Cup history.

England took control early and went into halftime with a 4-0 lead at Miami Stadium. Declan Rice scored in the third minute, Ezri Konsa followed in the 18th and Saka struck twice, first in the 37th and again one minute into first-half stoppage time.

Kylian Mbappé’s two goals raised his career World Cup total to 22, moving him one ahead of Lionel Messi as the leading scorer in men’s World Cup history. Messi can draw level with one goal or retake the record with two when Argentina faces Spain in Sunday’s final in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Rice took advantage of an error by Désiré Doué and scored from beyond the penalty area. He then delivered the corner that Konsa turned in for England’s second goal.

Marcus Rashford provided the assist for Saka’s first. Eberechi Eze set up the second.

France made four substitutions at halftime and nearly erased the deficit. Mbappé scored in the 48th minute, Bradley Barcola followed in the 54th and Mbappé struck again in the 66th. A four-goal deficit had fallen to one.

Michael Olise supplied both assists for Mbappé, who set up Barcola’s goal.

England stopped France’s run after Malo Gusto brought down Djed Spence inside the penalty area. Saka converted the 87th-minute penalty to complete his hat trick and give England a 5-3 lead.

Ousmane Dembélé cut the lead to 5-4 six minutes into stoppage time. Two minutes later, substitute Jude Bellingham moved through the French defense and scored the match’s 10th and final goal.

England held 54% possession and put 11 shots on target. France put nine shots on target.

Mbappé entered the match level with Messi atop the Golden Boot race with eight goals. His brace made him the first player since Gerd Müller in 1970 to score 10 goals at a single World Cup.

England made seven changes from the team that lost 2-1 to Argentina in the semifinals. Dean Henderson made his World Cup debut in goal, Rice wore the captain’s armband and regular captain Harry Kane began the match on the bench.

England had lost its previous third-place matches to Italy in 1990 and Belgium in 2018. Saturday’s victory gave the country its highest World Cup finish since winning the title in 1966.

France entered the match after a 2-0 semifinal loss to Spain. The defeat also ended Didier Deschamps’ 14-year run as France coach. No replacement has been announced, although Zinedine Zidane is widely viewed as the leading candidate.