BESIDES the World Cup trophy, the next awesome award is the ‘Golden Boot’.
It’s a special recognition given to the player who scores the most goals at a World Cup, and the race is hotly contested, close to the halfway stage for this prestigious prize at Qatar 2022.
Previous winners include France legend Just Fontaine, who scored 13 in 1954, a record tally at a single World Cup which still stands; Portugal’s Eusebio, who scored nine goals in 1966; England’s Gary Lineker, who scored eight goals in 1986; Ronaldo, who scored eight as Brazil won the 2002 World Cup; and the current England captain Harry Kane who scored six goals last time out in Russia.
TIE BREAKERS
The organisers hand out a gold, silver and bronze prize for goalscorers.
Previously players with the same number of goals would share awards, but nowadays they are split by tie-breakers: first, who scored the fewest penalties; then who collected the most Fifa-approved assists; then who has played the fewest minutes.
England’s Marcus Rashford is tied among a few strikers for this elite award with three goals so far. The others are Enner Valencia (Ecuador), Kylian Mbappe (France), Cody Gakpo (Netherlands), Alvaro Morata (Spain) and Lionel Messi (Argentina).
It could be anybody’s prize and nice to know that there’s a fair contest.
* Suresh Nair is an award-winning sports journalist who is also a qualified international coach and international referee instructor.
PRIOR to Sunday’s World Cup Finals, it is appropriate that it’s a two-player show to who will win the ‘Golden Boot’.
France’s Kylian Mbappe and Argentina’s Lionel Messi lead the way in the race as both celebrities have scored five goals so far in Qatar and have one more chance to improve their tallies.
However, Mbappe’s team-mate Olivier Giroud and Messi’s compatriot Julian Alvarez are just one goal behind in the race to finish the tournament as top goalscorer, too, and collect one of football’s most coveted individual prizes.
There is a pack of seven players on three goals, but none of them are still in the tournament after the quarter-finals so they won’t have a chance to add to their tally. So it will be a straight shootout between the players from the final.
You may well ask, what’s the ‘Golden Boot’.
It is the award given to the top goal-scorer at each edition of the World Cup. If at the conclusion of the tournament two or more players are tied at the top of the list with the same number of goals, the award will go to the player with the most non-penalty goals, and if they are still tied, it will go to the player with the most assists.
For the fastest goal in Qatar, Alphonso Davies has been the most alert after the ref’s whistle, scoring after just one minute and eight seconds in Canada’s 4-1 defeat to Croatia.
The next fastest goal comes over two minutes later, a Hakim Ziyech 35-yard chip for Morocco against Canada on three minutes 31 seconds, while Theo Hernandez was also quick off the mark in France’s semi-final against Morocco, scoring within five minutes.
For the most clean sheets, Morocco lead the way here with four clean sheets but having now been knocked out by France, the dark horses could be matched in their achievements by Argentina, should Messi’s team keep a clean sheet in the final.
Other yellow and/or red cards records, South Korea’s Paulo Bento became the first coach ever shown a red card at a World Cup match, during his team’s clash with Uruguay.
Let’s focus on the ‘Golden Boot’ and keep fingers crossed, it goes to a worthy winner.
* Suresh Nair is an award-winning sports journalist who is also a qualified international coach and international referee instructor.
YOU can simply scream yourheads off for Lionel Messi.
For the Argentinian super-striker, it’s more than a dream come true.
He’s now the youngest (18 years 357 days against Serbia & Montenegro in 2006) and the oldest (35 years 155 days against Mexico)player to score and assist in a single World Cup since 1966. Little wonder, he was voted the best player in Qatar.
Former Malaysia Cup defender Matthew Chin hails Messi as “someone close to impossible to match”. He added: My generation can’t compare him to (Diego) Maradona because Messi is simply extraordinary.”
THIRD TRIUMPH
Sunday was Argentina’s third World Cup triumph and the first since Mardona won it for them 36 years ago in 1986 in Mexico. After nearly a month of action filled with exemplary surprises and stunners across 64 games, 172 goals and the dramatic final completed, you just shake your head in disbelief. Just look at the statistics:
Golden Boot Winner 2022: Kylian Mbappe (France) – 8 goals in 7 matches; Golden Ball Winner 2022 (Player of the Tournament): Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 7 goals and 3 assists in 7 matches; Golden Glove Winner 2022: Emiliano Martinez (Argentina); FIFA Young Player Award: Enzo Fernandes (Argentina) FIFA Fairplay Award: England.
Total Goals Scored: 172 Fastest Goal of Qatar 2022: 2nd Minute – Alphonso Davies for Canada vs Croatia; Most Goals Scored: France (16 goals) in 7 matches; Least Goals Scored: Belgium, Denmark, Qatar, Tunisia, Wales (1 goal); Best Defence: Tunisia (1 goal conceded) in 3 matches; Worst Defence: Costa Rica (11 goals conceded) in 3 matches; Hattricks: 2 – Goncalo Ramos (Portugal) vs Switzerland, Kylian Mbappe (France) vs Argentina.
May I significantlly add congratulations to Qatar, having hosted the world’s first desert-terrained World Cup, something thought unimaginable, by football standards.
Sunday’s final between France and Argentina was genuinely a showpiece. In my opinion, in probably the wildest final in the tournament’s 92-year history, Argentina won its third World Cup title by beating France 4-2 in a penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw.
MESSI & MBAPPE
It featuredtwo goals from the 35-year-old Messi and an unusualhattrick by his 23-year-old heir apparent, France striker Kylian Mbappé.
“It’s a very special final for a special occasion for Qatar which had brickbats thrown at them right from the day they first won the World Cup bid,” said award-winning former Singapore coachJita Singh, 74, who spent more than a month in Doha.
“Qatar has truly proved its critics wrong. A small state that is capable of successfully organising the world’s biggest sporting event, after umpteen setbacks on and off the field. Just unbelievable.”
Hats off to Qatar, having hosted the world’s first desert-terrained World Cup, something thought unimaginable, by football standards.
* Suresh Nair is an award-winning sports journalist who is also a qualified international coach and international referee instructor.
YOU cannot beat sheer class. He’s simply hailed as a “phenomenon”.
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, even without a club, hit the headlines as the first footballer to score in five World Cup tournaments.
Certainly more to come but he makes goal-scoring look so very easy as he netted from the penalty spot in Portugal’s 3-2 victory over Ghana at Stadium 974 in Doha, Qatar.
Mind you, he is 37 and probably in his last World Cup Finals. The landmark comes just days after he had his contract terminated by his club team, Manchester United, following acontroversial interview in which he attacked the club, its manager, and its owners.
CREDIT TO TEAM
He laughed off his latest success by saying: “The first player to score goals at five World Cups, this makes me very proud…but credit must go to the team and we hope to continue with the winning streak.”
In almost every touch, he’s super class and Portugal boss Fernando Santo said of Ronaldo: “One of the best players in the world, one of the best players ever. In my books, he is a phenomenon, a legend like many who have come and gone before. In 50 years’ time, we will continue to speak about him.”
Including World Cups and European Championships, Ronaldo has now scored at 10 consecutive major tournaments. His penalty against Ghana this week saw him become Portugal’s oldest World Cup scorer ever, while he’s also his country’s youngest ever World Cup scorer, having scored his first goal at the tournament in 2006, at the age of 21.
TOP SCORER
Looking back, in September 2021, he also became the top scorer in international soccer history, after netting a brace against the Republic of Ireland. Those two goals took his total to 111 – moving him two ahead of Iran’s Ali Daei in the record books.
More from this mega-star? Ronaldo also surpassed Sergio Ramos’ record for the most international appearances by a European player last year, and became the first player to score 10 hat-tricks in men’s international football, after scoring three in a 5-0 win against Luxembourg.
Biggest salutes to Ronaldo…you just cannot beat sheer goal-scoring class.
* Suresh Nair is an award-winning sports journalist who is also a qualified international coach and international referee instructor
The Three Lions (England’s nickname) finished top of Group ‘B’ after recording a draw with the USA and two thumping wins over Iran and Wales.
For the Monday 3.00am clash, certainly all eyes will be on Manchester United ace striker Marcus Rashford, who bagged a brace in the 3-0 win over Wales to add to the goal he scored against Iran. This makes him the current World Cup’s joint-top scorer.
NO FAVOURITES
“At this knockout stage, anything can happen, there are no distinct favourites,” said Southgate. “If the match ends in a draw, it goes to mandatory penalty-kicks to decide the winner.”
Should England get over Senegal, a quarter-final date with reigning world champion France or Poland awaits.
Southgate warned: “This has been a tournament full of unexpected results, even the underdogs are making their mark with gutsy performances. I know Senegal never gives up easily anddefinitely cannot be under-estimated.”
If I’ve to stick my neck out, I will go for a very close-call win for England.
Now the ball is in your court: What’s your pick for this England-Senegal match?
* Suresh Nair is an award-winning sports journalist who is also a qualified international coach and international referee instructor.
The football fans are fixated on who is the greatest of all time in the soccer arena with the duel between Cristiano Ronald and Lionel Messi entering its last global phase, perhaps.
Nonetheless, Ronaldo and Messi are the only two popular and talented players in our era who have never won the World Cup.
While it is true that Portugal is not a large team with many talented players that can easily claim the title of World Cup winner, the same cannot be said for Argentina, a country that has produced two World Cup victories so far.
Argentina has reached the World Cup final on four occasions. It was defeated by the Uruguay national team way back in 1930, which is the inaugural World Cup competition.
However, Argentina produced excellent football in the competition winning by big scores and establishing Guillermo Stábile, an Argentine professional football player and manager who played as a centre forward during his career, as the top scorer of the 1930 World Cup, scoring 8 goals including a hattrick.
Alas, it lost the final against the gritty Uruguayans with the match ending in a 4-2 win for Uruguay.
Argentina was also defeated in two other finals, in 1990 and 2014, against Germany and the latter went on to win those two finals by 1-0. In 1990, it was the last appearance for maestro Diego Maradona.
But Messi’s country produced two great final victories against the Netherlands in 1974, winning 3-1 in a display of magical soccer between the two opponents (Netherlands had the father of modern football Johan Cryuiff in its squad) and beating Germany in a thrilling 3-2 final giving Maradona his only World Cup final win.
While Messi lost in the first ever final in which he participated in 2014, Ronaldo’s Portugal never reached the final though the troubled Manchester United superstar has played in 4 World Cups since 2006.
Who Will Smile at the 2022 World Cup?
We wrote that Ronaldo is a player who sets precedence and sets the tone for styles and goal scoring prowesses. This is so true for the great player and he is also the first to win a ‘regional’ trophy with his country when Portugal won its first ever Euro Championship in 2016, beating France 1-0 in the final after extra time.
It was Ronaldo’s most important national trophy, leaving the World Cup as the only major international trophy he has yet to win.
The star is going through the most turbulent and disturbing period in his football career and his coach at Manchester United is not helping the player with his dictatorial style and his bullying of one of the greatest soccer stars of all time.
This is not going to help Ronaldo in Portugal’s search for a place in the final at Qatar though we know that the latter cna rise to the occasion if he can put all his woes behind him and focus on the football on the field.
A great performance by Ronald at the World Cup will make Eric Ten Hag look like a fool. But Ronaldo is going through pain and this may, unfortunately for his fans and for football, Ten Hag is contributing to a potentially bad World Cup for the latter.
Ten Hag has- sadly – never played in any World Cup and is already seen as a troubled coach at Man Utd. The 6-3 defeat against Manchester City and the 4-0 drubbing against Brentford are two big dark spots in his managerial career at Old Trafford. Another misstep with a drubbing by a small club or a big one for that matter may mean Ten Hag could see the gate wide open for him to be excluded from the club.
Why sadly? He does not know how precarious it is to be a player who is going to play in a World Cup. If he knew, he would have been more careful in his choices with Ronaldo.
Nevertheless, Lionel Messi is not facing such worries and the Argentinian ace is in the running as one of the top rated players who may perform well in Qatar.
Messi has announced that this may be his last call for Argentina in the World Cup and that he may retire as an international soccer player, meaning he might not play for his country again after Qatar 2022.
Ronaldo has responded to Messi’s plans for retirement from international football by saying he hopes Messi would reconsider and would continue to play as long as he can because he believes the latter is a great player with great capacities.
This is how Ronaldo is. He encourages his opponents to carry on and to perform in order to bring brightness to the most beautiful game on the planet. Unlike some people.
Messi’s World Cup?
Among all the stars in Qatar, Messi will undoubtedly be looked upon as one of the greatest and he will become the greatest versus Ronaldo if Argentina reaches the final and wins.
Messi too started his World Cup appearances in 2006. Unfortunately, like Ronaldo, he has been putting more emphasis on clus football – which brings them more cash – than national football.
Unlike people like Pele for example, who played for their country with the same grit and enthusiasm when they played for their clubs – Pele won many club titles and World Cup finals at the same time – it does not appear the same for the modern ‘Peles’.
However, Messi has a chance now and if he forgets club soccer for a while, perhaps he may spark a riot at the World Cup and bring the trophy home to Buenos Aires and consecrate himself as the GOAT of our generation.
Messi has scored six goals in 19 matches at the Fifa World Cup spanning four editions. Argentina is a bigger soccer country than Portugal, though Portugal has also produced aces like Ronaldo and the once thrilling Eusebio whose team beat Pele’s in the 1966 World Cup.
Ronaldo has scored seven goals in 17 matches at the FIFA World Cup, scoring in every edition he has played in – 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018.
While Ronaldo has advised Messi to continue playing in the World Cup or at International level for a few more years, this year may be his last World Cup.
But depending on his spirit and where he is playing after he leaves Manchester United – unless Ten Hag is kicked out of Old Trafford earlier than January 2023 – Ronaldo may still attempt to give Portugal another shot at the World Cup in 2026! Imagine that.
Nevertheless, it is a pity that none of them have lifted the World Cup trophy, just like the legendary Cryuff who re-invented football with his total soccer styles, reached the final in 1974 and lost to Germany by 2-1.
Cryuff missed the World Cup in 1978 which saw the Netherlands reach the final only to be defeated by host Argentina by 3-1. He did not participate in the World Cup for obscure reasons but in 2008 he revealed why he did not play for the country in 1978.
He told the media that there was a kidnapping attempt on him and his family and that shocked him and while he escaped the attempt, it changed his perspective on life.
Hence, Messi is the best placed in the Qatar 2022 versus Ronaldo who is going through a difficult time, to go and win the cup for once!
