Brian Brobbey Just Did Something Only Two Other Players Have Done at a World Cup Since 1966

Sunderland striker Brian Brobbey is having the kind of tournament that turns benchwarmers into cult heroes. Three goals in 154 minutes. A 5-1 demolition of Sweden. A group-topping win over Tunisia. And now a piece of World Cup history that only two other players have touched since 1966.

Opta confirmed that Brobbey scored with each of his first three shots at the World Cup. That means he didn’t waste a single chance. Laszlo Kiss of Hungary was the first to do it back in 1982. Colombia’s Yerry Mina matched it in 2018. Now Brobbey is the third.

The 24-year-old started the tournament on the bench for the Netherlands. Ronald Koeman didn’t hand him the starting job right away. But when Brobbey got the call, he made it count in a way that’s hard to ignore. He didn’t just score against Sweden. He scored twice. Then he followed it up with the opener against Tunisia to lock up first place in Group F.

Before this tournament, Brobbey had only one goal in 12 caps for the Oranje. That’s a quiet international career for a guy who’s been a regular at club level. Sunderland fans have seen flashes of this kind of finishing in the Championship, but the World Cup is a different stage. The pressure is different. The defenders are different. And Brobbey has looked completely unbothered by it.

What makes this run even more unusual is the efficiency. Most strikers need a few games to find their rhythm. They miss one. Hit the post. Have a goal disallowed. Brobbey just showed up and buried every look he got. That kind of cold-blooded finishing is exactly what the Dutch have been missing in recent tournaments. They’ve had talented attackers, but sometimes they lacked a finisher who could turn one chance into three points.

Now the knockout rounds start. The Netherlands will face a tougher test in the round of 16, and teams will start game-planning specifically for Brobbey. But if his first three shots are any indication, he’s not going to make it easy for them.

The stat from Opta is the kind of footnote that gets repeated for decades. Three players in 60 years. That’s it. Brobbey’s name is now in that short list, and he’s got the rest of the tournament to add another chapter.