Enner Valencia once milked cows so he could afford to buy a pair of football boots but now the Ecuadorean striker is milking bucket loads of praise after his three goals in two games at the World Cup.
The 24-year-old – whose total draws him level with Agustin Delgado as his country’s all-time leading scorer at the World Cup finals – has filled the sizeable vacuum left by the death of Ecuador’s leading scorer in the qualifiers Christian ‘Chucho’ Benitez, who collapsed and died playing for his Qatari side last year.
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According to reports the striker for Mexican outfit Pachuca – no relation to his better known team-mate Antonio Valencia – is being sought after by English Premier League sides Newcastle United and Everton.
Six years ago such a scenario must have seemed like a pipedream to the youngster as he played for the youth team at Ecuadorean club Emelec, and had no money to feed himself with just the love of football to maintain morale.
“I was forced to sleep at the Capwell Stadium (Emelec’s stadium in the city of Guayaquil) I had often to go without eating because I did not have any money,” he told El Universo.
“It was just my love of football that kept me going.”
That devotion has paid off for him and his country as the double in the 2-1 win over Honduras on Friday was the sixth successive game that Valencia, born in Esmeraldas in the north of Ecuador, had scored in.
“Without any doubt the double is a dream come true for me. It is marvellous to have scored a double,” said Valencia.
Ecuador’s Colombian coach Reinaldo Rueda, who coached Honduras at the 2010 finals, is in no doubt over how much Valencia has contributed to the national side since he got his first break last year.
“Enner has been hugely important for Ecuador. In the 10 months he has been an international he has contributed a lot, an enormous amount,” said Rueda.
Valencia, who made an immediate impact at Pachuca after his move from Emelec last year, scoring 18 goals in the Mexican championship, puts his incredible progress down to his then club coach at Emelec and now Chilean national coach Jorge Sampaoli.
“He has really made a mark on my career. He gave me my debut in the Copa Libertadores and increased my experience. Sampaoli gave me character, to always keep going and never give up.”
Valencia, though, is not so much thinking about finishing as top scorer at the finals but about what he and his team-mates can achieve – namely a good result against an ominously strong looking France in their final group game and perhaps a place in the last 16 like their predecessors in 2006.
“I am not thinking about being top scorer,” he said.
“The priority is for us to qualify for the second round and if it is because of my goals, all the better.”
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