At dawn on Tuesday, England proved its dominance in the qualifying rounds of the European Cup, beating North Macedonia 7-0 at Old Trafford, topping the group with four wins in four matches. 21-year-old youngster Bukajorska scored a hat-trick for the first time in his career and the youngest player to score a hat-trick in nearly 15 years. This is not only his first career "hat trick", but also the youngest England team in the past 15 years "hat" player, further consolidate his national team main position.
England started the match with a furious attack. In the 29th minute, Harry Kearney scored a goal off a cross from Lauki Suhr. Then in the 38th minute, Bukayosaka slammed a worldie with his right foot from inside the box to increase the lead to 3-0. Rashford added another goal before the end of the first half to bring the score to 3-0 at the end of the first half.
England didn't slow down in the second half as Bukayosaka scored consecutive goals in the 47th and 51st minutes to complete his hat-trick. Gavin Phillips and Harry Kearney also scored in the final stages to give England a 7-0 win.
Bukajorska, who plays for Arsenal, became the second youngest player in England's history to be capped at the age of 21 years and 287 days, behind Wayne Rooney (19 years and 178 days) in 2008. After the match, he said, "I'm very happy, I don't know how to express it, the long season is finally over, this is the perfect ending." Bukayosaka has been a first-team star in the Premier League after extending his contract with Arsenal for £200,000 (HK$2 million) a week.
Although Bukayo Shaka missed a crucial penalty in the European Cup final two years ago, leaving England with a regrettable failure to win the title, he had already locked down a starting position in last year's World Cup. After the match, manager Gareth Southgate also praised him, "Shaka is very popular in the team and has been very accurate in all his shooting drills this week, but his brilliant goal for the second goal was still a surprise, and this game will be the tournament of a lifetime for him."
