Who Will Be World Cup 2010’s Top Scorer?

The count­down to South Africa 2010 may have started but there is still plenty of time for sur­prises to take place in terms of team selec­tions and final squad lists. Coaches may spring a sur­prise or two and call upon unfa­mil­iar names or per­haps the likes of the erratic Ray­mond Domenech will pick some unknown players.

Set­ting aside unfore­seen events, injuries, sus­pen­sions or lack of form, a con­sid­er­able num­ber of play­ers are all but guar­an­teed a spot o their national team’s ros­ter head­ing to South Africa. It is per­haps early to con­firm who has already scored his ticket to the World Cup but a few names will always sur­face when con­sid­er­ing the most likely top scorer of the tour­na­ment. The top scorer does not have to be a striker so a num­ber of attack­ing mid­field­ers and wingers will be included on this poten­tial list as shown below:

- Wayne Rooney: The Eng­lish for­ward is still a young 24-year-old star player who will be the focus of Fabio Capello’s attack­ing schemes come next sum­mer. Rooney scored 12 goals in 30 league appear­ances last sea­son for Man­ches­ter United but he has already man­aged seven strik­ers in 11 games this sea­son in the Pre­mier­ship. The young for­ward has scored 25 times in the 55 matches he has played for his coun­try. His last goal came in the World Cup qual­i­fy­ing destruc­tion of Croa­tia (5–1 home tri­umph) back on 9 Sep­tem­ber 2009.

- David Villa: The striker has an impres­sive record with both Valen­cia and Spain. He has found the net on 35 occa­sions in just 54 appear­ances. This implies the tal­ented player has a bet­ter strike ratio than a goal every two games. Villa has scored a remark­able nine goals in 10 la Liga games this sea­son. He forms a fright­en­ing part­ner­ship with fel­low attacker Fer­nando Torres.

- Fer­nando Tor­res:The Liv­er­pool striker does not have Villa’s impres­sive scor­ing record but he is still a very dan­ger­ous man inside the box. He has net­ted 23 goals in 71 inter­na­tional appear­ances for Spain. His scor­ing tally with Liv­er­pool is impres­sive as he notched 24 goals in 33 league appear­ances in his first sea­son at Anfield and fol­lowed that with 14 strikes in 24 matches in the Pre­mier League. This sea­son Tor­res is amaz­ingly on 10 goals in just 10 games.

- Didier Drogba: The Ivory Coast striker is one of the most lethal play­ers at the inter­na­tional level hav­ing notched 41 goals in only 60 caps for his coun­try. Drogba has been in great form this sea­son for Carlo Ancelotti as he has found the back of the net nine times in 12 league appear­ances. Drogba is a night­mare for defend­ers when on form due to his strength, pace and scor­ing abilities.

- Luis Fabi­ano: His goal tally stands at 25 in the 36 times he has rep­re­sented Brazil. He scored twice in the impor­tant 3–1 vic­tory over Argentina in Rosario on Sep­tem­ber 5, 2009. Luis Fabi­ano was top scorer in the FIFA Con­fed­er­a­tions Cup 2009 with five goals, includ­ing a dou­ble against the Unite States in the final. He has five goals to his credit this sea­son in just seven la liga appearances.

- Lionel Messi: The tal­ented player is con­sid­ered by many as the best player in the world at the moment. He has only man­aged 13 strikes in 41 appear­ances for Argentina but he has been in stun­ning form for Barcelona. He led the club to a tre­ble last sea­son after scor­ing 38 goals in 51 total appear­ances for the club while also pro­vid­ing assists on 18 other goals. He had 23 goals in 31 league appear­ances last sea­son and he is on course to match or even beat the impres­sive fig­ure hav­ing already scored seven times in just 10 la Liga matches. Messi is a delight to watch as he takes on defend­ers while mak­ing it look easy.

- Kaka: The for­mer Milan icon has scored 26 times for Brazil in 73 appear­ances. He was instru­men­tal in Milan’s suc­cess in Europe dur­ing the 2006-07 sea­son as the club won the Cham­pi­ons League on the back of his incred­i­ble per­for­mances. He would fin­ish top scorer in the Euro­pean com­pe­ti­tion that sea­son with 10 goals. He is now part of Real Madrid’s sec­ond Los Galac­ti­cos era since the turn of the cen­tury. The tal­ented Brazil­ian has only man­aged three goals in 10 matches in la Liga as he tries to adjust to life after Milan.

- Cris­tiano Ronaldo: The Por­tuguese missed Portugal’s play-off tri­umph over Bosnia but he should be back for South Africa 2010 bar­ring any injury. The cur­rent Real Madrid star has man­aged to find the net 22 times in 68 matches for Por­tu­gal. He has scored five goals in just five appear­ances for Los Blan­cos as he is out injured. His scor­ing record with Man­ches­ter United was remark­able hav­ing scored 17 goals in 34 matches in the league dur­ing the 2006–7 sea­son and then fol­lowed it with a stun­ning 2007-08 sea­son capped by his 31 goals in 34 appear­ances in the Pre­mier­ship. In his final sea­son with United, he scored 18 times in 33 matches in the league. He won the Euro­pean Golden Shoe dur­ing the remark­able 2007-08 sea­son as the lead­ing scorer across all the top divi­sions in Europe.

- Thierry Henry: Cur­rently the man behind the most con­tro­ver­sial use of his hand to con­tribute to a goal! His hand­ball assist to William Gal­las elim­i­nated the Irish and sent France to South Africa 2010. The striker was extremely lethal dur­ing his spell with Arse­nal but his scor­ing tally with Barcelona is quite respectable as he man­aged 19 goals in 29 matches last sea­son. He has played 117 times for France and scored 51 goals.

Tagged as: Barcelona, C. Ronaldo, David Villa, Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres, Kaka, L. Messi, Luis Fabiano, Manchester United, Milan, Real Madrid, Rooney, South Africa 2010, Thierry Henry, World Cup