{"id":20465,"date":"2026-07-19T08:18:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T02:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=20465"},"modified":"2026-07-19T08:18:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T02:33:54","slug":"saka-hat-trick-powers-england-to-6-4-win-over-france-and-world-cup-bronze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=20465","title":{"rendered":"<strong>Saka Hat-Trick Powers England to 6\u20134 Win Over France and World Cup Bronze<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Dragon Media News Desk<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bukayo Saka completed a hat-trick as England defeated France 6\u20134 in a thrilling third-place play-off to claim the bronze medal at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>In a remarkable 10-goal encounter at Miami Stadium in Florida on Saturday, England established a commanding 4\u20130 lead in the first half. France staged an impressive comeback after the interval, but Saka\u2019s late penalty and Jude Bellingham\u2019s stoppage-time goal secured a historic victory for England.<\/p>\n<p>Declan Rice gave England the lead in the second minute before Ezri Konsa doubled the advantage in the 17th minute. Saka then scored twice, in the 36th minute and shortly before half-time, to send England into the break with a comfortable four-goal cushion.<\/p>\n<p>France began its comeback two minutes into the second half through Kylian Mbapp\u00e9. Bradley Barcola added another goal in the 53rd minute before Mbapp\u00e9 struck again in the 65th minute, reducing England\u2019s lead to 4\u20133.<\/p>\n<p>France created several opportunities to equalise but failed to convert them. In the 86th minute, Malo Gusto fouled Djed Spence inside the penalty area, allowing Saka to score from the spot, complete his hat-trick and restore England\u2019s two-goal advantage.<\/p>\n<p>Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 scored France\u2019s fourth goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time to make it 5\u20134. Two minutes later, however, Bellingham broke through the French defence and scored an outstanding goal to seal England\u2019s 6\u20134 victory.<\/p>\n<p>Saka played the decisive role with three goals, while Rice, Konsa and Bellingham scored once each for England. Mbapp\u00e9 scored twice for France, with Barcola and Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 adding one goal apiece.<\/p>\n<p>Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s two goals took his overall World Cup tally to 22, moving him ahead of Lionel Messi. He also reached 10 goals in the 2026 tournament, strengthening his position in the race for the Golden Boot ahead of the final.<\/p>\n<p>Bellingham, meanwhile, scored his seventh goal of the tournament, setting a record for the most goals by an England men\u2019s player in a single World Cup edition.<\/p>\n<p>England had been forced into the third-place play-off after suffering a 2\u20131 defeat against Argentina in the semi-final. The victory over France secured England\u2019s first third-place finish at a World Cup and its best result since winning the tournament in 1966.<\/p>\n<p>The match also became the highest-scoring third-place play-off in World Cup history. The previous record was nine goals, set when France defeated West Germany 6\u20133 in 1958.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-background-color\">\n\t\t\t  <div \n\t\t\t  \tclass = \"fb-comments\" \n\t\t\t  \tdata-href = \"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=20465\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-numposts = \"10\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-lazy = \"true\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-colorscheme = \"light\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-order-by = \"time\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-mobile=true>\n\t\t\t  <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t  <style>\n\t\t    .fb-background-color {\n\t\t\t\tbackground: #ffffff !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {\n\t\t\t    width: 100% !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t  <\/style>\n\t\t  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dragon Media News Desk Bukayo Saka completed a hat-trick as England defeated France 6\u20134 in a thrilling third-place play-off to claim the bronze medal at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In a remarkable 10-goal encounter at Miami Stadium in Florida on Saturday, England established a commanding 4\u20130 lead in the first half. France staged an &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Saka Hat-Trick Powers England to 6\u20134 Win Over France and World Cup Bronze - Dragon Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=20465\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saka Hat-Trick Powers England to 6\u20134 Win Over France and World Cup Bronze - Dragon Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dragon Media News Desk Bukayo Saka completed a hat-trick as England defeated France 6\u20134 in a thrilling third-place play-off to claim the bronze medal at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In a remarkable 10-goal encounter at Miami Stadium in Florida on Saturday, England established a commanding 4\u20130 lead in the first half. France staged an &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=20465\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dragon Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61560346806474\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-19T02:33:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/hat.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1282\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"716\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dragon Media\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dragon Media\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dragon Media\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cbbc40ba051fb45aeb6f5846f090f5eb\"},\"headline\":\"Saka Hat-Trick Powers England to 6\u20134 Win Over France and World Cup Bronze\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-19T02:33:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465\"},\"wordCount\":405,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/hat.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465\",\"name\":\"Saka Hat-Trick Powers England to 6\u20134 Win Over France and World Cup Bronze - Dragon Media\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/hat.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-19T02:33:54+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/hat.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/hat.jpg\",\"width\":1282,\"height\":716},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=20465#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Saka Hat-Trick Powers England to 6\u20134 Win Over France and World Cup Bronze\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u0921\u094d\u0930\u093e\u0917\u0928 \u092e\u093f\u0921\u093f\u092f\u093e\",\"description\":\"committed to true &amp; 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