LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – Bukayo Saka was the star of the occasion as he found the back of the net thrice in England’s ten-goal thriller against France at the bronze medal match of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Declan Rice opened the scoring for England with just three minutes on the clock as he rifled a curler into the bottom corner.
Rice turned provider in the 18th minute as his corner found the head of Ezri Konsa.
Konsa shook off Adrien Rabiot and powered a header past Mike Maignan.
Bukayo Saka scored the Three Lions third goal in scrappy fashion after Maignan was caught off his line.
The Arsenal forward added his second of the night with a well-placed shot in the 46th minute.
England took a 4-0 advantage into the break after outclassing their opponents.
Three minutes into the second half Les Bleus captain Kylian Mbappe pulled one back for France.
Six minutes later substitute Bradley Barcola got on the score sheet before Mbappe added his second of the night.
Mbappe’s 66th minute strike was his 10th of the tournament taking him two goals ahead of Lionel Messi.
The cool finish also made him the highest goal scorer in World cup history with 22 goals.
Michael Olise assisted both of Mbappe’s goals, taking his tally to seven and breaking Pele’s record for the most assists at a single World Cup since 1970.
After Malo Gusto brought down Djed Spence in the box Bukayo Saka stepped home and smashed in the penalty to complete his hat trick.
Saka became the fourth England player to score a World Cup hat trick after Geoff Hurst (1966), Gary Lineker (1986) and Harry Kane (2018).
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Substitute Ousmane Dembele also got on the scoresheet deep into stoppage time.
However, the scoreline was far from complete as Jude Bellingham weaved through the France defence to score a brilliant solo goal.
The goal which was his seventh in the tournament was the highest scored by an English man in a single tournament.
The 6-4 scoreline cemented the Three Lions spot as the third best team in this year’s FIFA World Cup edition.
