World Cup countdown: Five star Oleg Salenko makes Russian history | OneFootball

At the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Oleg Salenko made history by scoring five goals in the same game.

The fifth of these came in the 75th minute and with 75 days to go until Russia 2018, it seems like great time for us to pay tribute.

That year saw Russia participate in the World Cup for the first time (following the break up of the Soviet Union) but their first match was an inauspicious welcome to the tournament as they were beaten 2-0 by Brazil in Stanford.

Their second match didn’t go particularly well either, although Salenko did at least net the nation’s first ever World Cup goal – a consolation from the penalty spot in a 3-1 defeat to Sweden.

The final group game was therefore a mere face-saving exercise for the Russians against a Cameroon side who were as good as eliminated, and boy, did they save face!

Salenko opened the scoring early in the game and proceeded to add four more goals in the 41st, 44th, 72nd and 75th minutes. Dmitry Radchenko scored his side’s sixth of the game late on, while Roger Milla’s strike early in the second half meant the game finished 6-1.

In fact, there were two pieces of history made that day, as Milla – at 42 years, one month and eight days – became the oldest World Cup goalscorer of all-time – a record he still holds to this day.

And Salenko still holds his record – for the most goals scored in a single World Cup match.

The former Dynamo Kyiv, Valencia and Rangers striker finished the tournament as joint-top scorer with Bulgaria’s Hristo Stoichkov and that was the first and, so far, only time a World Cup Golden Boot winner has been eliminated from the tournament at the group stage.

Remarkably, Salenko’s six goals at USA ’94 are the only six he ever scored for Russia at international level and after that historic performance against Cameroon, he never played for the national team again.

Not a bad way to sign off.