The first time is never forgotten. On July 13, 1930, France's Lucien Laurent scored the first goal in FIFA World Cup (tm) history in the Uruguayan city of Montevideo, propelling his team to a 4-1 triumph over Mexico and etching his name in football history. Laurent, who died in 1952 at the age of 44, earned the title "the father of modern soccer."
Other early players included England's Charles Alcock and William Allen, Scotland's Davie Wilson, and America's Walter Camp.
The first player to score in an international match was American Ed Macauly, who did so on February 1, 1904. The United States defeated Canada 7-6 in Philadelphia. Macauley scored four times.
The first player to score in a World Cup tournament game was Raimond Stadion of Switzerland on June 14, 1920. The Swiss lost 0-3 to Argentina in their opening match at the Summer Olympics in Paris. Stadion also scored twice in this game.
The first player to score in a World Cup final was Ferenc Puskás of Hungary in overtime of the final match of the 1954 World Cup against Brazil. The game ended 2-2 after extra time and had to be decided by a shoot-out. Puskás scored both his shots, helping his team to victory.
Guerreiro, Raphael Raphael Guerreiro scored Portugal's first goal in the 84th minute.
FIFA measured Dempsey's goal at 30 seconds after kickoff, the sixth fastest in World Cup history and the fastest by an American player. He was also the first American to score in three World Cups. DaMarcus Beasley made history by becoming the first American to participate in four World Cups. The last American to score in a World Cup was Chris Wondolowski in 2014; the last American to start a match was Jeff Agoos in 1990.
Dempsey scored just over two years after his father Thomas died of cancer. The death caused him to miss the 2006 World Cup in France where America went out in the group stage. However, he did play on three other occasions with two goals.
He is one of only three Americans to score in at least five World Cups (along with Carlos Valderrama and Brian McBride). The others are who we'll be looking at today: John Anderson, Stuart Holden, and Landon Donovan.
Anderson played for the United States from 1956 to 1970, scoring seven times and helping the U.S. reach the final of the 1960 Olympics. He then moved abroad to play for England's Nottingham Forest until 1975 when he returned home to join the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League. In 1977, he signed with the Tampa Bay Rowdies and ended his career there in 1979. He died at the age of 61 in Fort Lauderdale due to heart failure.
A year later, in his sixth appearance for his country, he scored his first international goal against Croatia. Messi's goal against Serbia and Montenegro on June 16, 2006, became him Argentina's youngest-ever FIFA World Cup scorer at the age of 18 years and 357 days. He is still only second to Diego Maradona's record of five goals in one game.
Messi has since then gone on to become one of the greatest players in world football history, with records that will likely be broken once he has retired. He is the all-time leading scorer in the Champions League with 128 goals and is the most decorated player in UEFA club competitions with five league titles, three FA Cups, a UEFA Super Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup medal.
As well as being the highest-paid player in the world, he also has the highest salary per minute played (estimated at $1.6 million per year).
He is a four-time winner of the Ballon d'Or award, received his third in 2016, and has been nominated for the prize six other times. The last time he did not receive the award was in 2009 when Cristiano Ronaldo won out over him again.
Before making his debut for Barcelona, Messi spent eight seasons with local side Newell's Old Boys, scoring 132 goals in 175 appearances.
Uruguay The inaugural FIFA International Cup, the world championship for men's national football teams, took place in 1930. The 1930 FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay from July 13 to July 30, 1930.
| Campeonato Mundial de Fútbol Uruguay 1930 | |
|---|---|
| Champions | Uruguay (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Argentina |
| Third place | United States |
| Fourth place | Yugoslavia |
Ernst Willimowski of Poland was the first player to score four goals in a single match and still end up on the losing side against Brazil in 1938. Brazil's Leonidas also scored three goals in the game, which his side won 6-5. Austria beat Switzerland 7-5 in the highest-scoring game in World Cup history in 1954.
Highest scorers in each event At the 1958 FIFA World Cup, Just Fontaine set a record with 13 goals. In the 1966 World Cup, Eusebio scored nine goals for Portugal. During the 2014 World Cup, Colombia's James Rodriguez scored six goals.
Four goals have been scored by an Irish international player in a single match. On February 25, 1934, Paddy Moore became the first player to accomplish this feat in a qualification match for the 1934 World Cup Finals versus Belgium. The game ended in a 6-6 draw.
Moore got his chance when senior players were dropped from the team due to political tensions between Ireland and Britain. He quickly proved himself by scoring four goals in that single match. The Belgian team was weak compared to other European teams at the time, so this is considered a major achievement for an Irish player.
He went on to play in three more matches for Ireland before being killed in action during World War II. His record has never been beaten by an Irish player.
The first goal scored by an Irish player in an official FIFA match was by Colin Addison in a friendly against England on August 4, 1953. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.
Addison was one of the most talented soccer players of all time and he still holds many records today. He won five league titles with Manchester City and two English cups. In addition, he earned 52 caps for England between 1951 and 1971. After retiring from playing, he went on to manage several clubs including Leeds United, Coventry City, and Aston Villa. He died in 1975 at the age of 42.
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