Every footballer dreams of representing his country at the FIFA World Cup once. Over the years, many great footballers have had the opportunity to represent their respective countries at the World Cup. To score a goal in the tournament is always a great achievement and to get your first international goal at the tournament is an equally great achievement.
But what’s even bigger is if you score your only international goals at the FIFA World Cup. Yes! Since the inception of the tournament in 1930, quite a number of footballers have scored their only international goals at the World Cup and here’s a list of five such footballers.
#5 Josimar, Brazil – 1986 World Cup
The 1980s were a period where Brazil were surprisingly among the underachievers in world football. Despite having a squad with an abundance of world class players, Brazil failed to win the 1982 World Cup in Spain. Four years later, in Mexico, the team was once again considered one of the favourites to win the tournament but were knocked out in the quarter-finals by France via a penalty shootout.
However, the team’s defence was quite disciplined throughout the tournament, conceding only once and two of the team’s defenders were named in the Team of the Tournament. One of them was Josimar who made his debut during the tournament.
In an international career that lasted only three years, Josimar scored two exceptionally brilliant goals for Brazil and both of them came at the 1986 World Cup in his first two international appearances.
After being benched for Brazil’s first two group games, Josimar made his national team debut in their third group game against Northern Ireland. Three minutes from half-time, he received the ball outside the penalty and instead of crossing the ball in, he took a shot from outside the penalty area which went over Northern Ireland goalie Pat Jennings and into the net.
The former Sevilla player’s second goal of the competition came in the very next match against Poland in the round of 16 that Brazil won 4-0.
After a Brazilian free-kick was blocked by the Polish wall, the ball landed on the feet of Alemao who chipped it towards Josimar at the far right. The right-back then dribbled past a couple of Polish defenders before scoring from a very tight angle to double Brazil’s lead.
Even though Brazil were knocked out in the last eight, Josimar’s performance was praised by many with some even being of the opinion that he was the best right-back of the tournament.
#4 Valeriy Porkujan, Soviet Union – 1966 World Cup
The Soviet Union had their best World Cup outing at the 1966 World Cup in England where they finished fourth. Despite having a decent team, it was youngster Valeriy Porkujan who was their top scorer with four goals. Porkujan made his debut during the tournament and interestingly, the four goals he scored in the tournament were the only goals he ever scored throughout his four-year long international career.
After being on the bench for Soviet Union’s group games against North Korea and Italy, the striker started in Soviet Union’s final group game against Chile which was incidentally his debut for the international side.
The former Dynamo Kiev then scored a brace on his debut as the Soviets won the match 2-1 ended their group stage by winning all three games. Porkujan scored his third goal of the competition in Soviet Union’s 2-1 win against Hungary which took them to the semi-finals of the World Cup for the very first time in their history.
Porkujan scored Soviet Union’s sole goal in their 1-2 defeat to West Germany in the semi-finals. He did not play in the third place play-off against Portugal and played another five matches for the Soviets till 1970 but did not score another goal for them.
#3 Lilian Thuram, France – 1998 World Cup
France’s most capped player Lilian Thuram is regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all-time for his versatility, technicality, and aggressive playing style. In a career that lasted 17 years, the defender played for the likes of Monaco, Juventus, Barcelona, and Parma, winning silverware with each one of them.
Thuram played for France from 1994 to 2008, appearing in three World Cups, four European championships, and a Confederations Cup. The former Barcelona player was an integral part of what was called as France’s golden generation and was named in the teams of the tournament of the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2000, and the 2006 World Cup.
In his 142 appearances for the national team, Thuram scored only two goals and both of them came in a World Cup Semifinal! In the 1998 World Cup, France were up against a Croatian side who were competing at their maiden World Cup and were coming into the game after a 3-0 bashing of Germany in the quarter-finals.
The Croats drew first blood with their talisman Davor Suker scoring in the beginning of the second half. Just moments after Croatia took the lead, Thuram scored his first goal for France by driving in a pass from Youri Djorkaeff past Croatian custodian Drazen Ladic.
He scored France’s winner through a left-footed shot just outside the penalty area that beat goalkeeper Ladic. France went on to win the tournament and Thuram was awarded the bronze ball as the third best player of the competition.
Thuram went on to play a huge role in France’s success at Euro 2000 and their runner-up performance at the 2006 World Cup but never scored for Les Bleus again.
Also Read: France 1998 & 2000 squads - where are they now?
#2 Jose Luis Brown, Argentina – 1986 World Cup
The story of Jose Luis Brown at the 1986 World Cup couldn’t be more dramatic and you could easily articulate it into a novel or play. Brown was picked in the Argentine squad by Carlos Bilardo as a last-minute addition despite not fully recovering from a knee-injury he had sustained two years back.
He was chosen to start ahead of the legendary Daniel Passarella and was informed of this by manager Carlos Bilardo hours before the opening match.
The centre-back went on to play an integral role in the competition as Argentina reached the final and were up against last edition’s runners-up West Germany who were looking very sharp. Brown had a great tournament but his crowning moment came in the tournament decider. With just over twenty minutes gone, Argentina were awarded a free-kick that was taken by Jorge Burruchaga.Burruchaga’s cross found Brown who headed the ball in the back of the net to give Argentina the lead. Argentina doubled the lead but West Germany fought back to level the game at 2-2 before the provider of first goal Burruchaga netted the winner and Argentina won the match and the World Cup.
From a last-minute addition to the squad to playing every single minute of the tournament (despite injuring his shoulder in the final) and scoring your only international goal at the moment when it mattered the most, Jose Luis Brown’s story says it all.
#1 Oleg Salenko, Russia – 1994 World Cup
Every football fanatic on the planet knows who Oleg Salenko is. He was the joint top scorer at the 1994 World Cup in the USA alongside Bulgarian legend Hristo Stoichkov with six goals. However, there is a fact that many might not know. The six goals that Salenko scored at the 1994 World Cup are his only international goals for Russia.
Salenko made his first appearance of the competition as a second-half substitute in Russia’s 2-0 defeat to Brazil. He started in their next match against Sweden and scored the Golden Eagle’s first goal in World Cup history from the spot after just four minutes. However, Russia lost the match 3-1 and were subsequently eliminated from the tournament.
In Russia’s final group game against Cameroon, the striker created a World Cup record by scoring five goals in a 6-1 drubbing, thus breaking Eusebio’s record of four goals in the 1966 World Cup for the most number of goals scored in a single World Cup match.
Russia were eliminated but the former Dynamo Kiev player was awarded the Golden Boot alongside Stoichkov. This made Salenko the only player to be awarded the Golden boot at both the U-20 World Cup (1989) and the FIFA World Cup. The match against Cameroon also turned out to be his last for Russia.
Surprisingly, before playing for Russia, he also played one match for Ukraine in 1993.
