“In 1986, Gary Lineker scored six of England’s seven World Cup goals,” writes Brendon O’Mahony. “Has anyone scored a higher proportion of their country’s goals at a World Cup? Let’s exclude teams who were knocked out in the group stage or who scored three goals or fewer”A number of you mentioned Oleg Salenko, the Russian striker who matched Lineker by scoring six of their seven goals at USA 94. That included five in one game against Cameroon, which turned out to be Salenko’s last in international football at the age of 24. Russia went out at the group stage despite Salenko’s romp, so he doesn’t meet the criteria laid out in Brendon’s question.But there are dozens of net-botherers who do. Enormous thanks to Mirosław Skaczkowski, who has been through every men’s World Cup and confirms that Gary Lineker is indeed top of the list. In winning the Golden Boot at Mexico 86, Lineker scored 85.71% of England’s goals (Peter Beardsley scored the other one, in case you were wondering).Gary Lineker celebrates his hat-trick against Poland in Monterrey. Photograph: Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/AlamySecond on the list wasn’t even a centre-forward. Northern Ireland’s Peter McParland was rated by Jimmy Greaves as “one of the most dangerous wingers I have ever seen, cutting through defences at tremendous speed and finishing with cannonball shots”.McParland scored five of Northern Ireland’s six goals at the 1958 World Cup, including both in a 2-2 draw against the defending champions, West Germany, and two more in a 2-1 playoff win over Czechoslovakia. That took Northern Ireland into the quarter-finals, but it was their third match in five days and they were hammered 4-0 by France.Other players with at least 60% of their teams goals at a World Cup include Peru’s Teófilo Cubillas, insouciant destroyer of Scottish dreams in 1978, Chile’s Marcelo Salas in 1998 (remember his mighty leap against Italy?) and the Italian giant Christian Vieri. He looked irresistible in 2002 until a costly miss against the co-hosts South Korea. (Go to 89 minutes of this minute-by-minute report, or fire up YouTube.)Teófilo Cubillas is mobbed by Peru teammates after scoring one of his two goals against Scotland in 1978. Photograph: Mirrorpix/Getty ImagesThanks again to Miroslaw for providing us with all the information needed for this list.