World Cup’s 101 Most Memorable Moments: Salenko’s five-goal frenzy

By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer

Editor’s note: Each day between now and the kickoff of the first match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Nov. 20, we’ll unveil a different memory from World Cup history. The countdown from 101 continues with Oleg Salenko’s five-goal frenzy at USA ’94.

From the opening match of the inaugural tournament in 1930 to the 2018 finale between Croatia and France, there have been exactly 900 World Cup games. In just one of them did a player manage to score as many as five goals. 

That player was Russian forward Oleg Salenko, who found the net five times in a 6-1, group stage victory over Cameroon. The win wasn’t enough to help the Russians reach the knockout stage, but Salenko’s record-setting day did go a long way toward him becoming the only player in World Cup history to win the Golden Boot as top scorer despite only participating in the first round.

Salenko bags five goals

Russia’s Salenko scores five goals against Cameroon in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Salenko also scored from the penalty spot against Sweden to finish USA ‘94 with six goals, the same number as Bulgarian striker Hristo Stoichkov, with whom he shared the award. Not bad for a guy who played in four fewer matches.

One of the leading soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.