After a mad goal spree, the forward claimed the Golden Boot at the 1994 World Cup – despite being Ukrainian
Chris Flanagan
AROUND THE GROUNDS
When Russia defeated Cameroon in a famous match at the 1994 World Cup, more than half of their starting line-up wasn’t actually Russian.
After the USSR broke up in December 1991, a makeshift Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) team was set up for Euro 92, then countries went their separate ways – Russia, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia were the only ones with FIFA membership in time to take part in qualifying for USA 94, so former Soviet players were given the choice of which country to represent.
Many chose Russia, keen not to pass up the opportunity to play at a World Cup – Manchester United’s Ukrainian star Andrei Kanchelskis was among them, only to end up boycotting the event after falling out with manager Pavel Sadyrin. Instead, Russia’s World Cup squad included Sergei Gorlukovich of Belarus, Omari Tetradze of Georgia, Andrey Pyatnitsky of Uzbekistan, Valeri Karpin of Estonia and five players born inside Ukraine – Viktor Onopko, Ilya Tsymbalar, Yuriy Nikiforov, Vladislav Ternavsky, plus Sergei Yuran, later (underwhelmingly) of Millwall.
Oleg Salenko was born in Leningrad to a Ukrainian father, before making his name as a player at Dynamo Kyiv, winning the Golden Boot for the USSR at the World Youth Championship and earning a move to Logrones in Spain. The striker actually played for Ukraine in their first ever match in 1992, but switched to Russia, making his debut in their final World Cup qualifier after they’d already secured their place at the tournament.
Coming on as a sub against Brazil in Russia’s opening game of the 1994 World Cup, Salenko was making only his sixth appearance for the country and still searching for his first goal, but scored after starting the next game against Sweden. Russia lost both games, their quest to reach the last 16 in tatters.
It set up ultimately a dead rubber against Cameroon – the 24-year-old bagged a hat-trick before half-time, adding two more after Roger Milla (above) had become the World Cup’s oldest ever scorer, at 42. Russia won 6-1, Salenko had become the only person in the tournament’s history to hit five in a match, and also the only player in World Cup history to win the Golden Boot despite being eliminated in the first group stage, sharing
