The Race for the Boot
Now that we have entered the quarterfinals stage of the tournament, the true contenders for the golden boot have emerged. The golden boot is given to the tournament’s top goal scorer in each world cup. Miroslav Klose of Germany was the recipient in 2006, netting 5 goals. This year, it seemed to take a little longer for the goals to come, but the race for the golden boot is finally heating up. There are 5 top contenders:
Gonzalo Higuain: Argentina’s striker is also tied for the lead with 4 so far. Higuain has been a bit fortunate with some of his goals. He has been the beneficiary of a few defensive errors, especially that against Mexico, where he was given the ball at Mexico’s 18, and just had to dribble it in. Still, with Argentina’s attacking style and Messi feeding him the ball, he’s got a great shot to win it.
Luis Fabiano: Brazil’s #9 has scored 3 goals so far, and Brazil is just starting to hit their attacking stride. They only scored a total of 5 goals in the group stage, but have already scored 3 in the knockout stages, beating Chile 3-0. With Brazil hitting their stride, and Kaka, Robinho, and Elano supplying Fabiano, I could easily see him passing up Villa and Higuain.
Luis Suarez: Uruguay’s forward has also netted 3 goals. Suarez isn’t the most creative or the fastest player, but he is a pure scorer. That’s why he is on the field. Uruguay are not a high scoring team though, and Suarez faces some tough games ahead of him. He also has Diego Forlan to steal some of Uruguay’s goals away from him. If Suarez were to win the boot, I would be very surprised.
Thomas Mueller: Germany’s young striker has been having a great tournament. He scored a good goal against Australia, and netted 2 against England. Although Mueller is playing very well, he is not a pure goal scorer like Villa, Higuain, Fabiano, and Suarez. All of his goals have come towards the end of games, and hes only scored in games that Germany has scored 4 goals. I don’t see Germany scoring 4 goals in their remaining games, so I don’t see Mueller getting the chances that the other contenders are going to see. The odds are not in Mueller’s favor at this point.
In my opinion, the race is really between Villa, Higuain, and Fabiano. All 3 players play for great attacking sides, and all 3 have great players who supply them the ball. If I were to put money on one of them though, I would put it all on Brazil’s Fabiano.
Finally: Goals
It took almost an entire round to produce a game in which both teams scored, yet someone won (North Korea and Brazil) and in general the first round of matches were lacking in goals and even in goal-scoring opportunities.
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Group B Preview
Man alive, it is only 2 days until the greatest sporting event on the planet kicks off. 31 teams made it through qualifying to join hosts South Africa in the first ever World Cup on African soil. There are favorites, middle-of-the-road squads, darkhorses, after-thoughts, you name it. Everyone is guaranteed at least three games and in the end of this international spectacle, a champion will be crowned.
LGM’s preview continues. Here is Group B.
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