Enner Valencia of Ecuador scored the first goal of the Qatar World Cup when he nailed a penalty in the 16th minute against the host on Sunday.
RELATED: QATAR VS ECUADOR LIVE
Valencia, who is the only player among both sides to have played in a World Cup before, won the penalty himself after he was bought down by Qatar keeper Saad Al Sheeb.
The Fenerbache star, who is his country’s all-time top scorer and captain, thought he had scored a few minutes ago but was denied by a late offside call.
RELATED: Who scored the first goal in each WC; full list from Lucien Laurent in 1930 to Enner Valencia in Qatar 2022
This was Valencia’s fourth goal in four World Cup games, a total to which he added one more in a few minutes. With this brace, he also became the all-time leading scorer for the South American nation in the World Cups, going past Agustin Delgado.
Interestingly, the last time these two sides met, in 2018, Valencia had scored a double, albeit in a losing cause as Qatar won 4-3 in an international friendly.
This was also the first time a tournament opener was scored from the spot. Valencia was later substituted off in the 76th minute, with the game almost sealed.
FIRST GOALSCORERS OF EACH FIFA WORLD CUP
July 13, 1930 – Lucien Laurent (France) – France vs Uruguay – result FRA 4-1 URU
May 27, 1934 – Ernesto Belis (Argentina) – Sweden vs Argentina – result SWE 3-2 ARG
June 4, 1938 – Josef Gauchel (Germany) – Switzerland vs Germany – result SWI 1-1 GER
June 24, 1950 – Ademir Marques de Menezes (Brazil) – Brazil vs Mexico - result BRA 4-0 MEX
June 16, 1954 – Milos Milutinovic (Yugoslavia) – Yugoslavia vs France – result YGV 1-0 FRA
June 8, 1958 – Tore Klas Agne Simonsson (Sweden) – Sweden vs Mexico – result SWE 3-0 MEX
May 30, 1958 – Hector Facundo (Argentina) – Argentina vs Bulgaria – result ARG 1-0 BLG
July 12, 1966 – Pele (Brazil) – Brazil vs Bulgaria – result BRA 2-0 BLG
June 2, 1970 – Chico, also known as Dinko Tsvetkov Dermendzhiev (Bulgaria) – Peru vs Bulgaria – result PER 3-2 BLG
June 14, 1974 – Paul Breitner (West Germany) – West Germany vs Chile – result GER 1-0 CHI
June 2, 1978 – Bernard Lacombe (France) –Italy vs France – result ITA 2-1 FRA
June 13, 1982 – Erwin Vandenbergh (Belgium) – Argentina vs Belgium – result ARG 0-1 BEL
May 31, 1986 – Alessandro Altobelli (Italy) – Bulgaria vs Italy – result BLG 1-1 ITA
June 8, 1990 – Francois Omam-Biyik (Cameroon) – Argentina vs Cameroon – result ARG 0-1 CMR
June 17, 1994 – Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany) – Germany vs Bolivia – result GER 1-0 BOL
June 10, 1998 – Cesar Sampaio (Brazil) – Brazil vs Scotland – result BRA 2-1 SCO
May 31, 2002 – Papa Bouba Diop (Senegal) – France vs Senegal – result FRA 0-1 SEN
June 9, 2006 – Philipp Lahm (Germany) – Germany vs Costa Rica – result GER 4-2 CRC
June 11, 2010 – Lawrence Siphiwe Tshabalala (South Africa) – result RSA 1-1 MEX
June 12, 2014 – (OG) Marcelo (Brazil) – Brazil vs Croatia – result BRA 3-1 CRC
June 14, 2018 – Yury Aleksandrovich Gazinsky (Russia) – Russia vs Saudi Arabia – RUS 5-0 KSA
November 20, 2022 - Enner Valencia (Ecuador) Ecuador vs Qatar
More to follow
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