The final days of the group stage of Qatar 2022 are now attracting the attention of soccer fans, although they also have in mind another battle that never goes unnoticed: the Golden Shoe award.
Doha, December 1 (PL) - The final days of the group stage of Qatar 2022 are now attracting the attention of soccer fans, although they also have in mind another battle that never goes unnoticed: the Golden Shoe Award.
Becoming the top scorer in a World Cup is the dream of those who -repeatedly- try to beat the goalkeepers, and, in this case, four strikers lead the contest: Cody Gakpo (Netherlands), Kylian Mbappe (France), Marcus Rashford (England) and Enner Valencia (Ecuador), all with three goals.
Among those mentioned, Valencia, of Turkish club Fenerbahçe, has the least positive outlook, as his team was eliminated after losing 1-2 to Senegal in its third match.
The situation is different for Gakpo (PSV Eindhoven), Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain) and Rashford (Manchester City), whose national teams even know the names of their opponents in the Round of 16: the United States, Poland and Senegal, in that order.
A special mention must go to Dutchman Gakpo, who at 23 years of age is considered one of the best players at the World Cup and has scored a goal in each of his appearances.
Behind the quartet are 11 players with a couple of goals, including Argentine star Lionel Messi, who missed a penalty on the most recent matchday.
Behind the quartet are 11 players with a pair of goals, including Argentina's Lionel Messi and Iran's Mehdi Taremi. The former missed a penalty the day before against Poland and the latter will have no further chances to add to his tally.
Completing the pack are Bruno Fernandes (Portugal), Cho Guesung (South Korea), Olivier Giroud (France), Andrej Kramaric (Croatia), Mohammed Kudus (Ghana), Alvaro Morata (Spain), Richarlison (Brazil), Bukayo Saka (England) and Ferran Torres (Spain).
The story goes that Guillermo Stabile (Argentina) was the first winner of the trophy, with his eight goals at Uruguay 1930, while the last was England's Harry Kane (six) at Russia 2018. France's Just Fontaine set the record for a single edition at Sweden 1958, with 13.
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Golden Boot winners:
1930: Guillermo Stabile (8 goals).
1934: Oldrich Nejedly (5).
1938: Leonidas da Silva (7).
1950: Ademir de Menezes (8).
1954: Sandor Kocsis (11).
1958: Just Fontaine, France (13).
1962: Florian Alber/Garrincha/Valentin Ivanov/Drazan Jerkovic/Leonel Sanchez/Vava (4).
1966: Eusebio (9).
1970: Gerd Muller (10).
1974: Grzegorz Lato (7).
1978: Mario Kempes (6).
1982: Paolo Rossi (6).
1986: Gary Lineker (6).
1990: Toto Schillaci (6).
1994: Oleg Salenko/Hristo Stoichkov (6).
1998: Davor Suker (6).
2002: Ronaldo (8).
2006: Miroslav Klose (5).
2010: Thomas Muller (5).
2014: James Rodríguez (6).
2018: Harry Kane (6).
