Golden Boot

To win the Golden Boot at the World Cup it helps to be playing in a team that can progress to the later rounds. Since 1966 there have been 12 Golden Boot winners and 10 of these played for sides that made it at least as far as the semi-finals. However, even though Russia failed to make the second round at USA 94, Oleg Salenko shared the Golden Boot after he thumped five past Cameroon in the group-stage. England did make it as far as the quarter-finals at Mexico 86, but Gary Lineker was helped to his Golden Boot by a hat-trick against Poland. Taking these factors into account, WCC has selected some outsiders for the Golden Boot at South Africa 2010.

Theofanis Gekas finished as top scorer in the World Cup qualifiers from the European zone. He scored 10 goals in the qualifiers, including four goals in one game against Latvia. Gekas didn’t have many opportunities for club side Bayern Leverkusen, but he’s had more chances whilst on loan to struggling Bundesliga outift, Hertha BSC. Greece are not one of the fancied European sides but they have a favourable draw in South Africa. Any two teams could progress from Group B without it being considered a major upset, and in the second round they will face sides from Group A which is arguably the weakest foursome in the tournament. Coach Otto Rehhagel led Greece to success at Euro 2004. If he has his side well organized again, there’s no reason they shouldn’t progress to the later stages of this tournament. And if they do, Gekas should be their main goalscoring outlet.

Another nation that could benefit from a kind draw is Greece’s fellow Group B hopefuls South Korea. The Taeguk Warriors qualified for World Cup 2010 without being defeated. Man Utd’s Park Ji-Sung was the top scorer for South Korea over the qualifiers, but he may not have quite the same opportunity to break into goalscoring positions from midfield in the finals. Therefore, the burden of responsibility for goals may fall on forward Park Chu-Young: he scored four goals over the qualifiers and also holds down a place at Ligue 1 side Monaco. Park is a quick forward and he could be using his pace to find the net at the latter stages of the tournament in South Africa. There’s also a possibility he will be the penalty taker for South Korea. One of his goals in qualifying was a penalty against Jordan.

In Group F, Slovakia don’t have the simplest of draws, but they qualified automatically from a difficult group which included Slovenia and Czech Republic. Italy will be fancied to progress but are certainly capable of faltering, whilst Paraguay qualified third from the South American zone and are ranked at about the same level as Slovakia. Forward Stanislav Sestak scored six goals for Slovakia over the qualifiers, and these included goals in both the home and away fixtures against Czech Republic. Sestak plays club football for BfL Bochum in the Bundesliga. If Slovakia make it to the knock-out phase they will want to avoid Netherlands in the second round. However, with tournament outsiders New Zealand in Group F there’s a chance that Sestak might have the opportunity to score a number of goals in one game. Therefore, Slovakia may not have to make it as far as the semi-finals for Sestak to get his hands on the Golden Boot.