{"id":593761,"date":"2026-07-19T16:38:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T16:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/593761\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T16:38:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T16:38:34","slug":"saka-hat-trick-seals-england-win-over-france-in-10-goal-world-cup-third-place-playoff-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/593761\/","title":{"rendered":"Saka hat-trick seals England win over France in 10-goal World Cup third-place playoff \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Cup third-place playoff: France 4 (Mbapp\u00e9 48, 66, Barcola 54, Dembele 90+5) England 6 (Rice 3, Konsa 18, Saka 37, 45+1, 87 Pen, Bellingham 90+7)<\/p>\n

Where to start with this rollercoaster of a match? Thomas Tuchel<\/a> had promised a reaction but he could not have imagined the manner of the response from England<\/a>, albeit against a France<\/a> team firmly on their sunloungers during an incredible first half in which they conceded four times.<\/p>\n

Yet with Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/a> on the hunt for his second successive Golden Boot in Didier Deschamps\u2019<\/a> last match in charge of Les Bleus, even that lead courtesy of goals from Declan Rice<\/a>, Ezri Konsa and two from Bukayo Saka almost wasn\u2019t enough. Mbapp\u00e9 began the comeback straight after half-time before adding his second after Bradley Barcola\u2019s strike. The 27-year-old has become the first male player to reach double figures at a World Cup<\/a> since Gerd M\u00fcller in 1970. Over to you, Lionel.<\/p>\n

Thankfully for England, Saka\u2019s late penalty to complete his hat-trick and Jude Bellingham\u2019s<\/a> seventh of the tournament after he came off the bench ensured that an afternoon that had begun with boos for Tuchel from some supporters ended with England claiming third place at the World Cup for the first time. Although the scars of their semi-final loss to Argentina will remain, they at least rounded off their campaign with a memorable victory.<\/p>\n

Miami\u2019s leaden skies throughout the day had matched the mood of both teams as they tried to put on a brave face after semi-final exits. As well as his attempt to overhaul Lionel Messi<\/a>, Mbapp\u00e9 had extra motivation along with his team-mates to send Deschamps off into the sunset with a victory after 14 years at the helm. The Real Madrid star published a message on social media in the hours before kick-off thanking the man who guided France to a second world title in 2018 and came so close four years later. \u201cToday is your last dance,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Tuchel signed a contract extension before this tournament and has indicated he wants to lead England into Euro 2028 on home soil. However after a tetchy pre-match press conference here on Friday night when the German doubled down on the conviction that he would make the same decisions again given the chance against Argentina, the next two years look set to be a test of his ability to rebuild his reputation among England\u2019s supporters. The reception Harry Kane and the rest were given after England received their bronze medals suggested the players\u2019 effort over the past five weeks has been fully appreciated.<\/p>\n

Like Deschamps, Tuchel made seven changes from the semi-final, with Rice surprisingly named captain in place of Kane despite carrying an injury for the entire tournament. Arsenal, who have serious concerns about how long William Saliba is likely to be sidelined with a back injury, will not have been delighted to find Saka starting either.<\/p>\n

There was also intrigue in the absence from the bench of Kobbie Mainoo, the Manchester United midfielder who has not played a minute at the World Cup. The Football Association said he was injured, although Jordan Henderson was listed among the substitutes despite the broken arm sustained celebrating England\u2019s win over Mexico.<\/p>\n

At first, France seemed to be suffering from more of a hangover. D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9\u2019s loose pass in the third minute was seized upon by Rice and his finish left Mike Maignan with no chance. Mbapp\u00e9 managed to tread on the ball just as he was speeding through on goal before Saka had a goal from an exquisite Morgan Rogers pass chalked off for offside. It needed a block from Maxence Lacroix to halt Saka\u2019s next attack before Konsa beat his marker, Adrien Rabiot, to nod in Rice\u2019s corner. England looked as if they had a point to prove.<\/p>\n

Marcus Rashford embarrassed Warren Za\u00efre-Emery with a nutmeg before unleashing a powerful shot that was well saved by Maignan. At the other end, Dean Henderson brilliantly denied Mbapp\u00e9, who had cut in from the left, before another save ended up kick-starting the move for England\u2019s third on the break. There was something comical about the way Rashford and Saka took turns trying to score before the latter eventually did. A brilliant pass from Eberechi Eze set up Saka\u2019s second on the stroke of half-time. France\u2019s players looked stunned, even if Mbapp\u00e9 tried his best to laugh it off.<\/p>\n

\"KylianKylian Mbapp\u00e9 of France is tackled by England’s Declan Rice. Photograph: Kevin C Cox\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Deschamps responded by making four changes at the break, including Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 and Bradley Barcola. They had pulled one back within three minutes when Mbapp\u00e9 finished Olise\u2019s through ball after the England substitute Ollie Watkins lost possession. It was not long before Barcola was sprinting back to halfway with the ball tucked under an arm after making it 4-2. Mbapp\u00e9 added his second after exchanging passes with Olise on the edge of England\u2019s area and suddenly Tuchel\u2019s side were really wobbling.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ken Early: World Cup final is a confrontation of two opposite ways of seeing the worldOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Somehow Olise could not hit the target to force extra time after toying with England\u2019s defence. Bellingham and Elliot Anderson had been summoned from the bench by that stage and it was left to the former and Saka, who did not get off the bench against Argentina, to hammer the final nails into France\u2019s coffin. Between times Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 pulled another goal back in this incredible spectacle that will surely go down as the game of the tournament. \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Cup third-place playoff: France 4 (Mbapp\u00e9 48, 66, Barcola 54, Dembele 90+5) England 6 (Rice 3, Konsa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,53365,229253,18,24446,13,14,248756,6,19,17,53359,86748,11,12,15,16,5,25142,7,8,35350],"class_list":["post-593761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-declan-rice","tag-didier-deschamps","tag-eire","tag-england-football-team","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-france-football-team","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jude-bellingham","tag-kylian-mbappe","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-thomas-tuchel","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116947630343164755","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}