Valencia, the first hero in Qatar: From milking cows to escaping the Police in mid-game

The sports career of Enner Valencia (Esmeraldas, 11-4-1989) gives to write a book. The Ecuador striker became the first hero of the 2022 World Cup by scoring a stellar double against hosts Qatar, but few know his particular career.

complex beginning

the passion of enner He started soccer as a child, when he ran away from school to play on the streets. As a child he also had to help his father by milking the cows, but the ball quickly marked his life. In 2008 he moved to Guayaquil to take entrance exams Emelecthat he would join the first team two years later at the hands of Jorge Sampaoli. Before he jumped to the elite, Valencia went through moments of crisis, even having to sleep in the stadium of the Ecuadorian team.

His performance led him to sign for Pachuca Mexican at the end of 2013, but within months his life was turned upside down when he stood with Ecuador in the 2014 World Cup. From there to the prestigious Premier League when the Westham hired his services. Even if you don’t know English, enner he didn’t even think about it. He spent two seasons with the ‘hammers’ (10 goals and 7 assists in 68 appearances) before being loaned to Everton for a year and then returned to Mexico with Tigres. Since 2020 he has been playing in Turkey, where his goalscoring sides have definitely exploded (he has 41 goals in 90 games).

His most famous episode

But without a doubt one of his most outstanding moments was when he tried to escape from Police in an ambulance mid-game. It all happened in 2016, when the Ecuadorian captain was almost stopped at the start of the match against chilli at the stadium atahualpa when he was served with an arrest warrant for non-payment of child support for his daughters. In the final minutes of the match, which ended in a 3-0 Ecuadorian victory, Valencia He pretended to be injured and tried to leave the stadium in an ambulance to avoid the Police. The completely surreal situation ended with the police running behind the stretcher taking the footballer off the pitch with an oxygen mask.

Now, at the age of 33, he has established himself as the undisputed leader of the Ecuadorian team. In fact, the goal in Ecuador has the name Enner ValenciaApart from his double against Qatar, in the 2014 World Cup he has scored all the goals for La Tri in the tournament (3), which makes him Ecuador’s top scorer in World Cups.