10.07.2010 12:13

Villa in contention for top scorer honour

Aida Soriano

The FC Barcelona striker has every chance of becoming the top goalscorer at this year’s World Cup. He has five goals so far but faces tough competition from Sneijder, Mueller, Forlán, Klose and Suárez.

The winner will receive the FIFA Adidas Golden Boot. In South Africa, David Villa is also a candidate to be the best player , boosted by his record of five goals scored to date.

Everything at stake

But nothing is decided yet. Tonight at 20.30, Uruguay and Germany will play off for third place. Uruguay’s Diego Forlán (4 goals) and Luis Suárez (3 goals), and Germany’s Thomas Mueller (4 goals) and Miroslav Klose (4 goals) will all have a chance of catching up with Villa.

The final

Meanwhile, Holland and Spain go head to head on Sunday (20.30) in the World Cup final. The championship is what really matters, but the game will also decide who finishes as top scorer. Wesley Sneijder and Villa are currently neck and neck with five goals each, although having played three minutes less, Villa would win the tie-breaker as things stand.

Forwards v midfielders

The 139 goals scored so far in South Africa have been scored by 93 different players, and not all of the aspirants to the top goalscorer award are strikers. Barcelona’s David Villa is a centre forward, but Holland’s Wesley Sneijder is an attacking midfielder. Diego Forlán, Luis Suárez and Klose are also strikers, but Mueller is another midfielder.

Villa Barça’s goal getter

Five of Spain’s seven goals have been scored by Villa. The others were also from Barça players in Andrés Iniesta and Carles Puyol. The new Barça signing only failed to hit the target in the games with Switzerland (0-1) and Germany  (0-1). Vicente del Bosque’s side is the seventh highest scoring in the tournament, while Germany, with 13 goals, Holland with 12, and Uruguay, with 9, are first, second and third in the ranking.

European top scorer

Villa has already been crowned top goalscorer at the European Championship when he scored four times in the 2008 edition held in Austria and Switzerland.