Former West Ham United striker Enner Valencia has continued his scoring run in the 2022 World Cup with Ecuador on Friday evening.
Valencia, who grabbed the headlines in the World Cup’s opening game on Sunday night, scoring both goals in Ecuador’s 2-0 win over Qatar in the tournament’s opening game, continued his impressive run of form in Group A in Ecuador’s second game against Netherlands.
After Cody Gakpo’s opening goal of the game early on in the 1-1 draw, Brighton defender Pervis Estupinan thought he had levelled the tie on the stroke of half-time. However, the goal was disallowed following a VAR check, with Dutch goalkeeper Andries Noppert having his sight blocked off by an offside Ecuador player.
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Early in the second half, Valencia converted from close range at the end of Estupinan’s saved effort to make it 1-1, his third World Cup goal of the tournament, making him the first player to reach three goals at this year’s tournament.
At the 2014 World Cup, Valencia scored three goals in as many matches in the tournament, taking his career record to six goals in just five World Cup appearances. That number puts him above Spanish striker Raul, England’s 1966 World Cup hero Geoff Hurst, Brazilian Romario and Belgian Romelu Lukaku, with the quartet on the list of players with five career World Cup goals.
Valencia is also joint on career goals in the World Cup with England captain Harry Kane. However, the Tottenham Hotspur forward could overtake Valencia with a goal on Friday evening against the United States of America.
However, his chances of climbing further up the all-time scorers list now looks unlikely after the striker was forced off on a stretcher with just minutes to go in the Group A clash, likely to see him miss the rest of the tournament.
Striker Valencia has been in stunning form for Turkish side Fenerbahce in club football this season, scoring 13 goals in just 12 league matches this season.
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