By David Owen
June 19 – After his breathtaking virtuoso performance against Spain in Sochi, Cristiano Ronaldo may well be pondering the possibility of a second consecutive World Cup hat-trick when Portugal take on Morocco on Wednesday at the Luzhniki.
Since 17 July 1930, when Bert Patenaude of the Fall River Marksmen and the United States became the first player to notch three goals in a World Cup match, only two men have scored three or more in consecutive World Cup fixtures – Sándor Kocsis of the mesmerising but ultimately unsuccessful 1954 Hungarian side and Der Bomber, Gerd Müller, for West Germany in 1970.
Two other men – Just Fontaine of France in 1958 and Argentina’s Gabriel Batistuta in the 1990s – have scored two World Cup hat-tricks, with the Argentinian’s coming on the same day, June 21, four years apart.
Besides Ronaldo, three other players at Russia 2018 have a chance of adding their names to that highly distinguished list: Thomas Müller of Germany; Gonzalo Higuaín of Argentina and Xherdan Shaqiri of Switzerland. The Portuguese talisman may also have his eye on matching – or exceeding – Oleg Salenko’s record of five goals in a single World Cup finals match. This was achieved against Cameroon in 1994.
Pelé managed one World Cup hat-trick, as a 17-year-old, in Brazil’s 5-2 semi-final victory over France at Solna in 1958. So did Eusebio, who scored four in Portugal’s famous come-from-behind win over North Korea in 1966. Neither Diego Maradona nor (yet) Lionel Messi have achieved the feat.
Given their record over the years, it is little surprise that Germany/West Germany have recorded easily the most hat-tricks in World Cup history with seven. Their closest challengers are Argentina and Hungary with four and Uruguay, Brazil, Poland – and now Portugal – with three.
More surprising is that Germany/West Germany also share the record for the most World Cup hat-tricks conceded. This stands at four and the other team to share it is South Korea.
Given that Portugal’s final group game is against Iran, Ronaldo may even be setting his sights on three consecutive World Cup hat-tricks, which would be unprecedented.
His three goals against Iberian rivals Spain incidentally amounted to the first World Cup hat-trick the Spaniards have conceded in the tournament’s 88 year history.
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