Saka hat-trick lifts England to historic World Cup third place

Bukayo Saka turned England’s 6-4 win over France in Miami Gardens, Florida, into far more than a third-place playoff, scoring the first hat-trick of his professional career and carrying England to its best finish in a men’s World Cup. The game, played a day before Argentina met France in Lusail for the final, finished as a chaotic thriller that pushed England into historic territory and left France fourth.

Saka’s performance made him one of the tournament’s standout figures and gave England a result it had never reached before in the men’s game. The 6-4 scoreline underlined how open the contest became, with England controlling the first half before France responded after the break. For Saka, the night was a personal breakthrough as well as a team milestone, because the treble was the first of his senior club-and-country career.

Kylian Mbappé remained part of the story even without starting the final. Didier Deschamps had confirmed before kickoff that Mbappé was “available” for the third-place match and said he planned changes to his side. Deschamps later reflected on what was his last match as France manager, after a defeat that left his team in fourth place and kept Mbappé in pursuit of the tournament’s scoring prize.

The wider narrative then moved to Lusail, where Mbappé produced his own defining response against Argentina. He struck a hat-trick in the final, won the Golden Boot, and became the first player to score a hat-trick in a men’s World Cup final since Geoff Hurst in 1966, according to FIFA. BBC Sport also named Lionel Messi the tournament’s best player, while Argentina claimed its third world title, closing the loop on a final that had already been foreshadowed by the playoff in Miami Gardens.