VALENCIA SCORES WORLD CUP DOUBLE AS ECUADOR BEAT QATAR
Captain Enner Valencia extended his cult status in Ecuador to wider international acclaim with a first-half brace that propelled the South Americans to a comfortable 2-0 win over hosts Qatar in the opening game of the World Cup yesterday.
The 33-year-old attacker, nicknamed Superman, increased his record tally of goals for Ecuador to 37 and also became the country’s highest scoring player in the World Cup as his double at the Al Bayt Stadium added to the three he scored in 2014.
A 16th minute penalty, nonchalantly stroked into the corner of the goal, was followed by a glancing header, propelled with power past the Qatari goalkeeper, in the 31st minute.
Valencia, the only player in the 2022 Ecuador squad from their last World Cup appearance eight years ago, might well have scored the quickest goal in the opening game when he had the ball in the back of the net in the third minute but it was ruled offside after a VAR check.
It was the fourth time in the last five World Cups that a player scored a double in the opening game of a tournament after Germany’s
Miroslav Klose (2006), Neymar of Brazil (2014) and Russian striker Denis Cheryshev in 2018.
“He’s our greatest player. These goals today in the opening of a World Cup make him the best for all Ecuadoreans,” said Victor Lopez, an 18-year-old fan from the city of Ibarra in north Ecuador watching the game on a giant screen in a shopping mall.