The race for the Golden Boot for the highest number of goals has gathered pace along with the battle to seal a place in the final of the World Cup. Spain’s little forward David Villa is the frontrunner with five goals. Germany’s Miroslav Klose and Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands, who have four goals each, follow the new Barcelona signing.
Rising German star Thomas Mueller’s bid to win the coveted prize suffered a setback after he received his second yellow of the tournament, against Argentina on Saturday. Uruguay’s talismanic Diego Forlan is also in with a chance as he heads to the Dutch meeting in the semi-final with three strikes to his name.
David Villa
The top scorer at Euro 2008, he has been invaluable to Spain’s Cup campaign. Few have been sharper in front of goal in South Africa. More importantly, no one has come up with more critical goals than the former Valencia star. It will be an injustice to say that Villa has always been in the right place at the right time. He has always worked hard for his goals. Barring the winner against Paraguay, nothing has come on a platter for Villa.
Miroslav Klose
The World Cup brings out Klose’s best. He is not only closing in on the Golden Boot here, the Bayern Munich forward is also on the verge of overtaking Ronaldo’s all-time record tally of 15. Klose has 14 goals from three World Cups. If the German of Polish ancestry scores one more in South Africa, he will become the first player to score five goals in three World Cups. Klose was unlucky to miss the Ghana match in the group stage here through suspension. But he has possibly two matches to etch his name in World Cup history.
Wesley Sneijder
The bald Dutch midfielder has been one of the influential players of the tournament. Setting up goals for others is his main job but Sneijder has also not done badly in the scoring department. He is on par with Klose now after Fifa credited Felipe Melo’s own goal to the Inter Milan midfielder. Sneijder is also in contention for the Golden Ball award for the most valuable player of the tournament.
The midfielder’s trophy haul this season may never be matched if the Dutch go all the way. Sneijder has already won a treble — the Champions League, Serie A and Italian Cup — for Inter under the inspirational stewardship of Jose Mourinho.