Two goals in the opening match put Enner Valencia in the spotlight around the world
33-year-old Enner Valencia captured the world’s attention with two goals in the opening match of the Qatar World Cup. Valencia is participating in his second World Cup as the captain of Ecuador. He demonstrated his skill by scoring three goals in a crucial match eight years ago. Eight years later, now he’s nearing the end of his career and is still performing well in the World Cup. It is his performance in the World Cup that make Valencia’s football story even more amazing — when he was a boy, he milked cows to help his family earn money and played football which was made of rags, and then he eventually becoming a professional football player.
Frustration and persistence
Being from a poor family and growing up in a challenging environment, Valencia’s football career is similar to that of many South American players. Football became his “partner” in life. On November 4, 1989, Valencia was born in a fishing port city near Ecuador’s northern border. Even though Ecuador is in South America, he was raised in a Northern Hemisphere country. Valencia’s family was poor, so Valencia and his siblings started working as “milkers” at a young age to assist their parents in earning money. After milking the cows, his siblings frequently sold milk on the street to supplement the family’s income. The rest time of Valencia’s life is spent playing football, in addition to milking cows, selling milk, and attending school. His father was unable to purchase a football because the family was too poor to pay for one. The most priceless “football” in Valencia’s early years was a simple football sewn by his father with rags. Valencia displayed its football talent in such a challenging setting. He would stand out with scoring goals as a schoolboy when he participated in local and regional soccer matches.His outstanding performance also caught the eye of a renowned local youth academy, who invited Valencia to trial in 2006 and from that time, Valencia’s actual football training started. Valencia stand out at the academy and has become one of Ecuador’s most popular young football players in just two years.
He resisted prejudice and discrimination with his excellent performance
Valencia, who joined the Emelek Sports reserve team at the age of 19, hasn’t had a chance to perform well since he was promoted to the first team, despite his outstanding performance as a teenager. Until 2010, when Valencia met Jorge Sampaoli, the coach who changed his life. Valencia seized the opportunity to make his professional debut that season, and he became an indispensable member of the team. He didn’t perform well at his first sports competition season, however, with only 1 goal in 25 matches. Many radical fans even use racial prejudice to attack him in response to the outside world’s questions and criticism because of such a performance. This time, Valencia has not been defeated by life’s setbacks. He scored 9 and 13 goals over the course of the following two sports competition seasons, solidifying his position at Emelec and even contributing to the team’s First Division championship.
In the World Cup, he is regarded as a legend
In a career spanning four continents and six professional football clubs, Valencia has experienced many prejudices and difficulties along the way. Outside the stadium, he even had an unexpected situation where his family members were kidnapped, but they survived with the help of the police. Valencia always returns to the field, focused and enthusiastic, regardless of the difficulties life throws at him. Valencia’s football history became a brilliant chapter, but also a significant turning point, particularly during the World Cup stage. Valencia made his World Cup debut in an Ecuadorian jersey eight years ago. He scored in his first World Cup game against Switzerland. At the age of 33, Valencia has made a comeback to the World Cup after eight years. According to him, at this “veteran” age, the Ecuadorian media actually questions whether he can perform well, but he hasn’t been affected by their criticism or uncertainty. He said: “There is a lot of negativity in the Ecuadorian media and we try to ignore it and focus on training every single day. We need to live in the moment and now we have all three scores in the first match and we will continue our dream even though it is very difficult.” Although he is not one of biggest football stars and he has entered his twilight of career, but his twilight is still shining.