World Cup Golden Boot Betting

The Golden Boot is awarded to the top goalscorer of the FIFA World Cup. If there are two or more players tied on the same number of goals at the end of the tournament then the award goes to the player with the most assists.

Naturally that means when looking at Golden Boot Betting we should be looking for players who are going to play a greater number of games. And that is in fact a statistic backed up throughout the history of the World Cup; for 10 of the last 12 golden boot winners the players nation have played the maximum number of games – i.e. made it to the semi-final then gone on to the final or 3rd/4th place play-off.

Potential semi-finalists

Spain and Brazil head the outright winners betting which logically leads to their strikers heading the World Cup Golden Boot Betting. David Villa and Fernando Torres are at the top of the bookmaker’s tree and are both around the 10/1 mark then Brazil’s talisman Luis Fabiano is next at around 11/1.

Germany and Italy are rarely far away when it comes to the latter stages of World Cups. German striker Miroslav Klose has a stunning World Cup goal scoring record which reads as 10 goals in two tournaments and is the only player ever to score five goals in consecutive World Cups. Italy’s biggest threat is likely to come from Fiorentina striker Alberto Gilardino, he has scored just under one goal every two games for the national side.

Weak Groups

Having a potential ‘whipping boy’ in your group can improve the chances of racking up the goals before the knockout stage. In the 2002 World Cup Germany beat Saudi Arabia 8-0 and Klose notched three on his way to totalling five in the group stages. He didn’t win the Golden Boot that year but came runner-up to Ronaldo who also scored five in the opening stages as Brazil cruised through a relatively easy group consisting of Turkey, China and Costa Rica.

New Zealand, North Korea and Honduras are expected to struggle at this year’s World Cup and the number one seeded team in each of their groups are Italy, Brazil and Spain respectively. Another positive factor for the forwards of Brazil and Spain specifically.

Club Form

It is also worth keeping an eye on which players enter the tournament in good goal scoring form for their respective domestic club. If a player has scored a barrel-load for his club over the course of the season there is a good chance that he will come into the World Cup high in confidence and can hit the ground running. On the other hand, if a player hasn’t got into the swing of things at home or has been in and out of the side due to injuries then they may need time to build confidence and regain their touch. Messrs Rooney and Torres spring to mind as contrasting examples of this aspect.

Summary

In conclusion your Golden Boot Betting should take into consideration how many games the player will play, the calibre of teams they will play against in the early stages and their form at domestic level in the previous season.