What Soccer Players Managed to Scored Most of Their Career Goals in a Solitary Game?
Recently, Jeremy Ngakia scored twice for Watford against Oxford United to take his career goals total to three from 116 senior club appearances,” wonders Peter Skilton. “Excluding footballers who scored only once, has anybody with over 100 matches achieved a greater proportion of their total goals in a one game?”
Denis Boone writes in with the tale of French defender Chalmé. “French right-back Matthieu Chalmé played 362 professional matches during his career, mostly for Lille and Bordeaux,” Denis writes. “He scored four career goals, with three of them coming in a single game. Chalmé netted all three goals in Lille’s 3-0 win at Ajaccio in March 2004, achieving the surprising of hat-tricks.”
Those three well-taken goals in Ajaccio were the sole goals he scored in 179 games for Lille, while in 167 matches with Bordeaux, he found the net one time. Well, twice if you count his own goal in the 2010 League Cup final against Olympique Marseille. Netting three-quarters of his total goals in a single match takes Chalmé past Ngakia’s mark (two-thirds), but there’s a complication.
Chalmé hung up his boots at his club in 2014 after a temporary move at Ajaccio, who likely remembered his brief purple patch a ten years prior. He came back to the game with fifth-tier side Lège Cap-Ferret, playing seven games in half a year – and netting once. That would drop Chalmé’s percentage of goals in one match down to three-fifths, but it feels harsh to count against him for a post-career stint at amateur football.
A quick mention, too, for a different French defender: the legendary Thuram. While the original question relates to club careers, plenty of you emailed in to point out that Thuram made 142 France appearances and scored two goals in the same match – the 1998 World Cup semi-final against the Croatian team. Sometimes, form is everything.
Players Defying Managers: Continued
In last week’s Knowledge we examined players who defied their managers’ instructions. There are some more fantastic examples, so let’s reopen the Disobedience Records for a another review.
Spurs vs City, Cup semi-final, the 1950s
“The Spurs captain, Danny Blanchflower, made changes to the side during the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City while they were a goal down,” writes a correspondent. “Switching Maurice Norman from centre-half to attack, they ultimately lost and the manager, Jimmy Anderson [not that one], benched the captain for the following game and stripped him of the captaincy. Soon after Anderson left, Nicholson became manager, Blanchflower was reinstated and the rest is history.”
England vs Albania, World Cup 1990 qualifier, 1989
Another fan notes: “Paul Gascoigne scored his first England goal in this victory at the national stadium after playing ‘all over the pitch’, as per manager Bobby Robson. The post-game comments are marvellous – a wonderful mixture of annoyance, sarcasm and fatherly pride.”
Everton vs Spurs, FA Cup semi-final, the 1990s
The Toffees’ most recent silverware was the 1995 Cup, and it couldn’t have happened without a key figure,” writes Jim Hearson. “Manager Joe Royle? No. Final scorer, Rideout? Almost. Keeper Southall? Not him. The hero was unpredictable forward Daniel Amokachi, who substituted himself on during the match with Tottenham, scoring twice to earn the Toffees a spot in the final against Manchester United.”
Recounting the story to the media, Amokachi said: “Rideout was injured and fell ... I just approached the assistant and said ‘The gaffer says you need me on’.” The manager was rightly angry at the moment, but kinder at the final whistle: “He entered the locker room and embraced me, shook my hand and said: ‘Well done, son, but never try that again.’”
Sporting vs Barça, Champions League group stage, 2008-09
During his time with Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona against Sporting Lisbon, Henry took it upon himself to change flanks. He soon netted to ensure Barça went in 1-0 up at the break. Guardiola’s reaction? He hooked Henry for ignoring his instructions.”
Free-kick flurries
“Being a Hammers supporter, I’m increasingly having to look at past seasons for some enjoyment,” weeps Liam Corbett. “While recently doing so, I noticed that Dimitri Payet scored six free kicks in the precious year and a half that we enjoyed him. Just wondering if there is a more prolific set-piece expert in a similar time period?”
One comes to mind: David Beckham netted 27 direct kicks in his time at Manchester United, including eight over several months between 2000. His most prolific 18-month spell at the club includes the identical timeframe: from 1999-2000, he scored 10 direct-free-kicks – including two brilliant strikes against the Hammers. Sorry, Liam.
For consolation, there’s a player currently on West Ham’s books who can outdo Payet’s record: Ward-Prowse. The set-piece maestro enjoyed two purple patches with his former club, netting seven set-pieces between 2019-2021 across two pandemic-interrupted campaigns. He then hit another six superb free-kicks in a ten-month period between 2022-2023.
Historical Trivia
“A friend who follows Southend insists the club once featured in a league match at the national stadium? Is he joking?” queried a reader in April 2012.
Ludicrously, he was correct. The team were one of two teams – Brentford being the second – to face Clapton Orient in the third tier at Wembley back in the 1930s, owing to stadium renovations at Orient’s Lea Bridge Stadium. Their official website takes up the story:
Following a league match against Torquay (which the O’s won), officials from the Devon club complained about the perimeter fence being too close to the pitch. The Football League was duly asked to inspect the ground and agreed that changes were needed before any more games could take place; abruptly the Orient found themselves without a stadium. Incredible as it seems, the national stadium was proposed and the Orient actually played two league games in that year against Brentford and Southend, winning 3-0 and 3-1 respectively. To this day the club is the sole league team to have hosted matches at Wembley Stadium!
After that of course, Tottenham followed Orient in becoming residents at Wembley, albeit in the top flight. Lately, talk of the Gunners upgrading the Emirates – and moving to the Wembley while the work is carried out – has surfaced.
Your Input Needed
“Aubameyang scored four goals and was red-carded in Gabon’s 4-3 win over Gambia last week,” notes a reader. “Who else have seen red after scoring at least three goals?”
“In Austria’s 10-0 demolition of the minnows, all starting attackers and midfielders who began the game scored or assisted,” asks another correspondent. “Has any other team managed this?”
“Among all footballers who have a monument outside the ground of their ex-team, who played the fewest games for that team?” wonders a fan.
“Remarkably, Jon Dahl Tomasson is the first manager to be sacked by {Sw
