The Most Likely Golden Boot Winner

The injuries to key players so near to the start of the World Cup were disheartening. Though many of them are fabulously rich already, many of them would have dreamed of being in the World Cup from the very start. That was what drove their passion, money kind of got in the way. You cannot buy a position to be playing in a World Cup tournament.



One of the more interesting betting schemes would be predicting the likely Golden Boot winner.

2010 World Cup Top Goal Scorer Odds

Villa, D	9	8	9	8	9.8	8	15/2
Messi, L	10	9	10	9	11	10	9
Rooney, W	11	8	10	10	12	10	10
Fabiano, L	12	11	12	12	15	12	10
Torres, F	12	12	12	12	16	12	12
Higuain, G	18	16	16	16	23	16	16
Ronaldo, C	18	16	16	18	19	14	16
Van Persie, R	-	25	22	20	23	20	25
Drogba, D	25	25	28	22	38	33	25
Nilmar	25	-	28	25	-	-	-
Milito, D	28	33	20	33	40	33	28
Klose, M	25	25	28	25	46	33	25
Negredo, A	-	-	33	-	-	-	-
Aguero, S	25	33	22	25	65	40	25
Benzema, K	-	-	-	-	450	-	40
Pato, A	-	-	-	-	370	-	40
Kaka	33	40	33	33	55	40	33
Tevez, C	40	33	33	33	44	33	33
Robinho	33	40	40	40	60	40	40
Podolski, L	50	40	50	50	80	50	40
Akale, K	-	-	-	-	590	-	50
Adriano	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Mueller, T	-	-	-	50	-	-	-
Huntelaar, K	40	50	50	40	85	50	40
Gilardino, A	33	50	40	33	50	40	40
di Natale, A	50	66	66	50	60	50	50
Defoe, J	33	33	33	33	90	50	33
Eto`o, S	40	40	40	33	95	50	40
Guiza, D	-	-	66	25	1000	-	-
Robben, A	66	66	50	50	70	40	-
Pedro León, S	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Henry, T	33	40	33	25	85	50	33

I totally agree with the odds as I do think David Villa is way under-rated when compared to the more popular Messi and the over-hyped Rooney (even though he is a Red Devil). I think Torres is a bit of a prima donna and plays like a woman, in that he has his period days and can get moody. Messi is a near God, no doubt about that, but he will be heavily marked in every game and that might free up his team mates to do the scoring rather than seeing him on the score sheet. That is why Gonzalo Higuain might be a decent bet at good odds. However, the consideration is that the poorly qualified coach that is Maradona, only called up Higuain in the last 2 qualifying matches, and that was after a lot of pressure from the media. Maradona may only use him sparingly.



To be a Golden Boot winner, we have to look at the teams they will be facing, and then how far down to the finals they will be playing. To that end, I still think Gonzalo Higuain is a good bet, with a smaller cover bet on Robin van Persie. Robin would have been more popular but Holland is likely to meet Brazil in the quarter finals, and that may limit the actual number of games one can play in the end.

What is your take?