Saka pleased to finish strongly

Bukayo Saka reflected on England’s thrilling 6-4 victory over France in which the Arsenal forward was at the treble in the FIFA World Cup 2026 bronze final.

Saka came away with the match ball after scoring a hat-trick, getting on the scoresheet with first in the 37th minute, doubling his tally on the stroke of half time and completing his treble from the spot late in the second period.

In doing so, he became the second England player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup knockout stage match after Sir Geoff Hurst in the 1966 final.

“It was a crazy game,” said Saka. “We are still disappointed to not be in the final but it was about finishing strong and giving the country the best finish in the World Cup for 60 years.

“The first half won it for us. We won the first half, they won the second, but we got the two goals at the end to win it.”

With the clock ticking and Saka having bagged a first-half brace, the Three Lions were awarded a penalty, with teammate Jude Bellingham handing the ball to the forward to do the honours.

“Jude was never taking it (penalty) and to be fair, he was the first one to say, ‘go and get your hat-trick’,” he explained. “He was holding the ball for me so no-one else got it.”

The result in Miami brought an end to England’s journey at this summer’s tournament, reaching the last four before going on to secure third place and there is plenty to be proud of, as Saka highlighted.

“We built across the tournament, we had some amazing results,” continued Saka.

“We fell short against Argentina and it hurts a lot for all of us and I’m sure it’s the same for the fans back home. We have to hold our heads high and move on to the next one.

“It’s how you react and use it as fuel. Today we finished strongly. That’s all we could really do and we did it.”