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Every Day, XtrAfrica highlights a World Cup record. To day's spotlight is on Oleg Salenko, who outshone legends in California during the 1994 tournament. Credit:sputnik
Oleg Salenko's prediction to his roommate in a California hotel seemed outlandish: "I had a dream," he excitedly shared.
"I'm going to score lots of goals, we're going to thrash Cameroon, and we're going to reach the final."
His long-time friend Dmitri Radchenko thought he "needed admitting to a mental asylum."
Heading into 1994, Salenko had just two caps, began the FIFA World Cup™ on the bench, and would never play international football again. Russia needed a significant win against Cameroon, a team that nearly reached the Italia '90 semi-finals, to advance from Group B. Despite the odds, two of Salenko's premonitions materialized.
Salenko's performance at Stanford Stadium was historic. By the 75th minute, he had scored five goals, all with his right boot, leading Russia to a 6-1 victory. This extraordinary feat broke the record for most goals in a World Cup game, previously held by Ernst Wilimowski, Ademir de Menezes, Sandor Kocsis, Just Fontaine, Eusebio, and Emilio Butragueno.
“I didn’t know it was a record at the time,”
Salenko recalled.
“I heard something over the loudspeaker, but I was focused on winning by as many goals as possible. It was in English, and I wasn’t quite sure what it was. There are records for everything. I couldn’t have imagined setting one for the most goals in a World Cup game.”
Post-match, Salenko and Radchenko were taken for doping tests. The game kicked off at 1 PM in 40°C heat, leaving them dehydrated and waiting an hour-and-a-half to provide urine samples.
“I found out hours later about the prestigious record. It was amazing, but at the time, I was anxious to see if we would advance.”
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