Enner Valencia once milked cows so he could afford to buy a pair of football boots but now the Ecuadorean striker is milking bucket loads of praise after his three goals in two games at the World Cup.
The 24-year-old – whose total draws him level with Agustin Delgado as his country’s all-time leading scorer at the World Cup finals – has filled the sizeable vacuum left by the death of Ecuador’s leading scorer in the qualifiers Christian ‘Chucho’ Benitez, who collapsed and died playing for his Qatari side last year.
Click here to visit The National’s World Cup 2014 landing page
According to reports the striker for Mexican outfit Pachuca – no relation to his better known team-mate Antonio Valencia – is being sought after by English Premier League sides Newcastle United and Everton.
Six years ago such a scenario must have seemed like a pipedream to the youngster as he played for the youth team at Ecuadorean club Emelec, and had no money to feed himself with just the love of football to maintain morale.
“I was forced to sleep at the Capwell Stadium (Emelec’s stadium in the city of Guayaquil) I had often to go without eating because I did not have any money,” he told El Universo.
“It was just my love of football that kept me going.”
That devotion has paid off for him and his country as the double in the 2-1 win over Honduras on Friday was the sixth successive game that Valencia, born in Esmeraldas in the north of Ecuador, had scored in.
“Without any doubt the double is a dream come true for me. It is marvellous to have scored a double,” said Valencia.
Ecuador’s Colombian coach Reinaldo Rueda, who coached Honduras at the 2010 finals, is in no doubt over how much Valencia has contributed to the national side since he got his first break last year.
“Enner has been hugely important for Ecuador. In the 10 months he has been an international he has contributed a lot, an enormous amount,” said Rueda.
Valencia, who made an immediate impact at Pachuca after his move from Emelec last year, scoring 18 goals in the Mexican championship, puts his incredible progress down to his then club coach at Emelec and now Chilean national coach Jorge Sampaoli.
“He has really made a mark on my career. He gave me my debut in the Copa Libertadores and increased my experience. Sampaoli gave me character, to always keep going and never give up.”
Valencia, though, is not so much thinking about finishing as top scorer at the finals but about what he and his team-mates can achieve – namely a good result against an ominously strong looking France in their final group game and perhaps a place in the last 16 like their predecessors in 2006.
“I am not thinking about being top scorer,” he said.
“The priority is for us to qualify for the second round and if it is because of my goals, all the better.”
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Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community
• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style
“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.
Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term.
From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”
• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International
"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed. Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."
• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."
• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com
"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.
His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.
Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."
• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher
"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen. He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”
• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."
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Brief scoreline:
Wales 1
James 5'
Slovakia 0
Man of the Match: Dan James (Wales)
The specs
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Hobbies: Salsa dancing “It's in my blood” and listening to music in different languages
Favourite place to travel to: “Thailand, as it's gorgeous, food is delicious, their massages are to die for!”
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Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score)
Porto (0) v Liverpool (2), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
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