Which Soccer Players Have Netted The Majority of Their Professional Goals in a Solitary Game?
“Last month, Jeremy Ngakia scored twice for Watford against Oxford to bring his total career goals to three from 116 senior club appearances,” asks Peter Skilton. “Excluding players who only scored one goal, has anybody with 100+ appearances achieved a greater proportion of their total goals in a single match?”
Denis Boone writes in with the story of French defender Chalmé. “Defender Chalmé appeared in 362 games during his playing days, mostly for Bordeaux and Lille,” he explains. “He scored four career goals, with a hat-trick scored during a solitary match. Chalmé netted all three goals in Lille’s 3-0 win at Ajaccio in March 2004, recording the surprising of three-goal hauls.”
Those three well-taken goals in Ajaccio were the only ones he scored in 179 Lille appearances, while in 167 for Bordeaux, he scored once. Actually, twice including his own goal in the 2010 Coupe de la Ligue final against Marseille. Netting three-quarters of his total goals in a single match puts Chalmé ahead of Ngakia’s percentage (66.7%), but there’s a complication.
Chalmé retired at Bordeaux in July 2014 after a temporary move at the Corsican club, who presumably recalled his brief purple patch a ten years prior. He did return to the game with fifth-tier side his local club, featuring seven times in six months – and scoring one goal. This reduces Chalmé’s percentage of goals scored in a single game down to 60%, but it seems unfair to penalise him for a post-retirement jaunt at semi-professional level.
A quick mention, too, for a different French defender: the legendary Thuram. While the original question concerns club careers, many readers wrote in to point out that the defender made 142 France appearances and netted twice in the identical game – the World Cup semi-final against the Croatian team. Sometimes, form is everything.
Players Defying Managers: Continued
In last week’s Knowledge we examined footballers who disobeyed their coaches. There are some more great stories, so we’re revisiting the Insubordination Files for a another review.
Tottenham v Manchester City, Cup semi-final, 1955-56
Tottenham’s skipper, Danny Blanchflower, altered tactics to the team during the cup match against Manchester City while they were losing 1-0,” recalls a correspondent. “Switching Maurice Norman from defense to up front, they ultimately lost and the manager, Jimmy Anderson [not that one], dropped Blanchflower for the following game and removed him of the captaincy. Within a year Anderson was out, Nicholson took over, the captain returned and the outcome is legendary.”
England vs Albania, World Cup 1990 qualifier, 1989
Another fan notes: “Gazza scored his first England goal in this 5-0 win at the national stadium after roaming everywhere’, as per coach Robson. The post-game comments are marvellous – a great blend of annoyance, irony and fatherly pride.”
Everton vs Spurs, FA Cup semi-final, the 1990s
The Toffees’ most recent silverware was the 1995 FA Cup, and it couldn’t have happened without a key figure,” begins Jim Hearson. “Manager Joe Royle? No. Goalscorer in the final, Paul Rideout? Close, but no. Keeper Neville Southall? Not him. That man was mercurial striker Amokachi, who substituted himself on during the match with Tottenham, netting two to earn the Toffees a place in the Wembley showpiece against Manchester United.”
Recounting the story to the media, the striker said: “Rideout got a knock and fell ... I just went to Willie Donachie and said ‘The gaffer says you need me on’.” Royle was rightly angry at the moment, but more forgiving at the end: “He came into the locker room and hugged me, gave me his hand and said: ‘Well done, son, but never try that again.’”
Sporting v Barcelona, Champions League group stage, 2008-09
During his time with Guardiola’s Barça against Sporting Lisbon, Henry decided to change flanks. He soon netted to give Barcelona the lead at the break. The coach’s response? He substituted Henry for disobeying orders.”
Set-Piece Specialists
“Being a Hammers supporter, I’m increasingly having to look at past seasons for positive memories,” laments a fan. “While recently doing so, I noticed that Dimitri Payet netted six set-pieces in the precious year and a half that we enjoyed him. Just wondering if there is a more productive set-piece expert in a comparable span?”
One comes to mind: David Beckham netted 27 direct kicks in his spell with United, including eight over several months between 2000. His most prolific 18-month spell at Old Trafford covers the identical timeframe: from May 1999 to November 2000, Beckham netted ten set-pieces – including two brilliant strikes against the Hammers. Sorry, Liam.
If it helps, there’s a player currently on West Ham’s books who can better Payet’s statistics: James Ward-Prowse. The set-piece maestro enjoyed two purple patches with Southampton, netting seven set-pieces between 2019-2021 across two Covid-affected seasons. Ward-Prowse then added six more superb free-kicks in a ten-month period between 2022-2023.
Knowledge archive
“A friend who follows Southend insists the club once played a league game at Wembley? Is he joking?” asked a reader in 2012.
Surprisingly, he wasn’t. Southend were among two clubs – the Bees being the second – to face Clapton Orient in the third tier at Wembley back in 1930, owing to ground improvement work at their home ground. Club records explain further:
Following a league match against Torquay (which the O’s won), Torquay representatives complained about the perimeter fence being too near to the field. The Football League was requested to inspect the ground and agreed that changes were needed before further matches could be held; abruptly the Orient found themselves without a stadium. Hard to believe, the national stadium was proposed and the Orient actually hosted two matches in 1930 against Brentford and Southend United, securing two victories. Even now the club is the sole league team to have played home games at Wembley Stadium!
Since then of course, Spurs joined Orient in becoming residents at the stadium, albeit in the top flight. In recent weeks, talk of Arsenal upgrading the Emirates – and relocating to the national stadium while the work is carried out – has emerged.
Can you help?
“Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted four times and was red-carded in Gabon’s 4-3 win over Gambia recently,” notes Seb in Berlin. “Which other players have been dismissed after netting a hat-trick or more?”
“In Austria’s 10-0 demolition of San Marino, every outfield player who started got a goal, an assist or both,” asks another correspondent. “Is there another side achieved this feat?”
“Of all of the players who have a statue at their club’s stadium of their former club, who made the least amount of appearances for that team?” asks a fan.
“Interestingly, Jon Dahl Tomasson is the initial coach to be fired by {Sw
