High scorers and golden oldies
In FIFA.com’s latest weekly stats review, the achievements of veteran duo Christie Rampone and RogerioCeni feature alongside the goal-grabbing feats of Carlos Eduardo, Gonzalo Higuain and Bradley Wright-Phillips.
590-Sao Paulo victories is the tally that has made yet another entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for RogerioCeni. In helping his side to a 3-0 Brasileiro win over Goias, the 41-year-old goalkeeper surpassed Ryan Giggs, the previous holder of most wins for one club (589 with Manchester United). For Rogerio, who will retire at the end of the season, this was merely the latest record in a career strewn with them. He has, after all, already scored more goals than any other keeper (123), made most appearances for a single club (1,173) and most as captain (867). And while his remarkable playing days are now drawing to a close, who would bet against this Tricolor Paulista legend making yet more history before bidding farewell?
300-caps was the amazing milestone reached and then passed by Christie Rampone on Friday as she led USA to victory at the CONCACAF Women’s Championship. The evergreen 39-year-old, who already held the world record among active players, became just the second person – after former team-mate Kristine Lilly – to reach the triple-century. Lilly’s final, world-record tally of 352 still represents a lofty target for a player who has hinted at retiring after next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup™, but Rampone remains a valued and influential member of the US line-up. At the recently concluded regional finals, she marshalled a defence that didn’t concede a single goal, with her 301st cap won in a 6-0 final victory over Costa Rica that left USA with an aggregate tournament score of 21-0. On the other side of the world, meanwhile, there was a notable landmark for another, much younger star of the female game, with Abby Erceg becoming the first New Zealander – male or female – to make 100 senior international appearances. The defender’s achievement is all the more impressive as she is still just 24, with Erceg having become a key player for the Football Ferns since her debut as a 16-year-old eight years ago.
8-games without a goal, his longest Serie A drought, was the run that came to an end in spectacular style for Gonzalo Higuain on Sunday. Napoli’s Argentinian striker, who hadn’t scored in the league since a hat-trick against Lazio over six months ago, returned to form with another treble, this time in a 6-2 win over Verona. Higuain, in fact, is one of just five players in Europe’s top five leagues to have scored more than two hat-tricks in 2014, with the others Cristiano Ronaldo (3), Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Domenico Berardi. Mark Hamsik was also on form for Napoli on Sunday, grabbing a double to end a drought of his own, having failed to score since 11 May and not managed a brace since August 2013. All this came about after Verona made a dream start to the match, scoring the fastest goal of the current Serie A season through Emil Hallfredsson after just 25 seconds. However, I Gialloblu have a miserable record at the San Paolo, having failed to win there in 31 years, and they eventually folded, becoming the first team to concede six away to Napoli since Genoa in 2011.
5-goals were scored by Nice midfielder Carlos Eduardo in his team’s 7-2 win away to Guingamp on Sunday. The 25-year-old, on loan from Porto, duly made history, becoming the first Nice player to score five in a single Ligue 1 game since the legendary Just Fontaine in 1950. No-one from any French club has managed this feat in the past three decades, with the most recent previous example having been Toni Kurbos, who scored six for Metz in a 7-3 win at Nimes in April 1984. Carlos Eduardo, who had scored just once in his previous six Ligue 1 matches, is also just the sixth player in any of the top five European leagues to have achieved such a haul this century, and the first this year.
M.D