▲ Ener Valencia
Ener Valencia (Fenerbahçe), considered the best player in Ecuadorian football history, is leaving his mark in his country's FIFA World Cup history.
In the second leg of the 2022 Qatar World Cup group stage against the Netherlands in Group A held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar on the 26th Korean time, Valencia started a goal to balance the score in the 4th minute of the second half, which was dragged 0-1, and Ecuador drew 1-1. took the lead in finishing it.
Valencia increased their record for the most goals in an A-match by an Ecuadorian player to 38 goals, and the most goals scored by an Ecuadorian player in a World Cup finals to 6 goals.
In particular, Valencia's 6 World Cup finals equals Ecuador's overall score during their appearances in Brazil 2014 and this tournament.
Ecuador scored a total of 3 goals in the match against Switzerland (1 goal) and Honduras (2 goals) in the 2014 Brazil tournament, as well as 3 goals against Qatar (2 goals) and the Netherlands (1 goal) in this tournament. , the scorers are all Valencia.
Eusebio (Portugal), Paolo Rossi (Italy) and Oleg Salenko (Russia) were the only players who scored 6 consecutive goals for their country in the World Cup finals.
Ecuador did not qualify for the 2018 Russian tournament, so Valencia had no chance to score a goal in the finals, but Valencia is tied for first place in the World Cup score, starting with the Brazilian tournament, according to Opta, a soccer statistics expert.
Even if the team doesn't advance to the round of 16, Valencia has a good chance of scoring an extra goal during this tournament, as it has a third group match against Senegal left, but 'health' is the key.
Valencia, who was replaced with a knee injury in the second half of the first match against Qatar, had to watch the rest of the game icing on the bench after being carried off on a stretcher in the second half due to a knee injury.
(Photo = Getty Image Korea)