Former Russian-Ukrainian football player Oleg Anatolyevich Salenko was a forward who was born on October 25, 1969. In the group stage of the 1994 World Cup, he tied for the tournament’s most goals with five goals, setting a record. This performance helped him win the Golden Boot.
In Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, Salenko was born to a Russian mother and a Ukrainian father. He played for Zenit Leningrad, Dynamo Kyiv, Logroés, Córdoba, Valencia, Rangers, and Istanbul Spor throughout his professional career, which spanned from 1986 to 2000.
He finally had to end his career early, at the age of 31, due to health issues brought on by injuries, after eventually fading from the international football scene. In the 2000–01 season, Salenko signed with Pogo Szczecin to resume his career as a professional football player. But because of his physical state, he gave up after just one game.
At the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship, Salenko represented the Soviet Union’s under-20 team, and his five goals led all scorers. Only nine international games in all were played by him, including the friendly between Ukraine and Hungary that marked the first international match for the FIFA-recognized Ukrainian national football team. Additionally, he made eight appearances for Russia and netted six goals, all of which came during the World Cup, where he shared the lead with three other players. He scored five goals in his last international match, a 6-1 victory over Cameroon.
Oleg Salenko Scored Five Goals at the FIFA World Cup
IT IS REAL. In the 1994 World Cup match between Russia and Cameroon, Russian player Oleg Anatolyevich Salenko scored five goals. This did not stop Russia from being eliminated in the opening round, though. He is the only player, as of 2017, to have won both the FIFA World Cup and the U-20 World Cup’s Golden Boot.
His five goals in this game overshadowed Cameroon striker Roger Milla’s accomplishment of becoming the oldest player to score at a World Cup, and after an earlier goal against Sweden in the group stage, they brought his total at the USA ’94 World Cup to six. These goals were sufficient to earn him the Golden Boot at the competition, which he shared with Hristo Stoichkov of Bulgaria.
His goals gave Russia the victory, but they came too late for them to advance to the knockout stage. Their match against Cameroon was a dead heat because Sweden and Brazil had already clinched the top two spots to advance to the round of 16.
In a single game against Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup held in the USA, former Russian forward Oleg Salenko set a World Cup record by scoring five goals. Few players in the world of football are capable of scoring goals at the World Cup on a big stage just for fun. However, former Russian forward Oleg Salenko set a World Cup record by scoring five goals against Cameroon in a single game during the 1994 tournament in the United States of America.
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