England 7-0 North Macedonia: Bukayo Saka scores first career hat-trick in emphatic victory
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England 7-0 North Macedonia: Gareth Southgate praises Bukayo Saka after first hat-trick
Bukayo Saka scored the first hat-trick of his career as England made it four wins out of four Euro 2024 qualifiers by thrashing North Macedonia at Old Trafford.
Gareth Southgate's side are well on course to qualify for the tournament in Germany next summer and, even though North Macedonia provided meagre opposition, England still demonstrated the dazzling array of attacking options they have at their disposal.
And at the heart of it all was Arsenal's Saka who struck a superb treble before departing to a standing ovation with the game won.
England actually laboured in the early stages in the face of determined Macedonian defence but once captain Harry Kane scored his 57th international goal - turning in Luke Shaw's cross at the far post after 29 minutes - the floodgates opened.
Saka added the second from Kyle Walker's pass nine minutes later and Marcus Rashford scored a third on the stroke of half-time after unselfish work by Jordan Henderson.
The highlight of this one-sided affair came two minutes after half-time when Saka controlled a perfect long pass by Trent Alexander-Arnold before sending a thunderous left-foot finish high past keeper Stole Dimitrievski.
Saka completed his landmark hat-trick after racing clear on to Kane's pass, prompting Southgate to make a host of changes which allowed substitute Kalvin Phillips to get in the act with a simple tap-in to make it six.
Kane scored his second from the spot with 17 minutes left after John Stones had been fouled as England went on a goal rampage to record their biggest win since the 10-0 victory over San Marino in November 2021, and inflict North Macedonia's heaviest defeat.
Bukayo Saka is the youngest player to score an England hat-trick since Theo Walcott against Croatia in September 2008
Unstoppable England on course for Germany
England could not have done a more convincing job of plotting their route to Euro 2024 with maximum points and their most testing assignment out of the way with victory over Italy in Naples.
This is a group England have to qualify from - there would be a serious inquest if they did not - but the manner in which Southgate's side have gone about their work is admirable and a sell-out Old Trafford crowd was given quite a show of attacking football.
England may face a familiar problem of not being fully put to the test until they face elite competition in the heat of a major tournament but this does not mean Southgate will not learn anything from qualifiers, even if the passage is comfortable against inferior opposition.
The attacking riches the manager can manipulate were on show among his goalscorers and England's strength in depth was emphasised as Manchester City's Champions League-winning duo of Jack Grealish and Phil Foden came off the bench while Real Madrid's new teenage superstar Jude Bellingham was not present because of injury.
This must all be framed by the fact North Macedonia were nowhere their class but England could not have done a much better job of dismantling them.
Saka the jewel
Saka grows into a more accomplished England footballer with every game and it was clear just how popular Arsenal's 21-year-old is with his team-mates by their show of sheer joy when he completed his hat-trick.
The big bonus for Southgate is that, with Alexander-Arnold's move into midfield, it has quickly become clear he and Saka are right on the same wavelength.
They combined for a goal in Malta in Friday night's win and linked again here as Alexander-Arnold picked out Saka for his second and England's fourth, a real "wow" moment as the latter applied a spectacular finish.
Saka's England colleagues sought him out with the match ball at the final whistle. He will hope it is the first of many and he certainly has the talent to collect more.