The Golden Boot is an award that is given to the played with the most goals scored at the World Cup at the end of the tournament. It was first awarded back in 1982 and until 2006, the award was named the “Golden Shoe”.
Who has the best chance to become the successor of Harry Kane who won the award 4 years ago? We break it down below!
After netting 6 goals, Harry Kane won the Golden Boot back in 2018 and he is once again off to a flying start with Tottenham in the Premier League with 6 goals scored in 7 matches. In 74 games played for England he is at 50 goals scored and with the Three Lions being in Group B alongside Iran, USA and Wales they could be involved in a high scoring game or two early on in the tournament. One big reason I like him to repeat as the winner of this award is that he takes his team’s penalties, which proved to be huge for him in Russia where he scored half of his goals from the penalty spot. England are coming off a semi-final and final appearance in their last 2 major tournaments, if Harry Kane can maintain his production I can see them going far here as well. You can back Kane at +700 to retain the Golden Boot.
As mentioned earlier, going deep into the tournament is key for a player to win this award and because of this it’s hard to overlook Neymar at +2000 odds. Brazil is number one favorite to win the whole thing and Neymar is their key man who makes it all work. After a poor showing in Russia 4 years ago, he will be highly motivated to do better this time around and at 30-years old he might not get a better chance at winning this award. So far this season he has 11 goals in 11 matches with PSG, along with 7 assists which is encouraging. Everything starts and ends with Neymar, if he is able to stay healthy I can definitely see him scoring a lot of goals in Qatar.
When it comes to scoring goals, Robert Lewandowski cannot be overlooked for this award even if the oddsmakers have him listed at a whopping +3500 odds. With a 50% goal conversion and only 63 mins between each goal scored, he ranks among the most prolific strikers in Qualifying for this tournament. He is off to a flying start with his new team Barcelona after scoring 11 goals in just 8 matches played and if he can somehow translate that form onto the national team, Poland could go very far. The only issue with this bet is the fact that Poland are in the same group as Argentina, Mexico and Saudia Arabia. And while he could fill it up against the Saudis, penetrating the Mexican and Argentinian defenses will be challenging.
At +5000 odds I also like the Serbia’s Aleksandar Mitrović. He has been in lethal form for his country scoring an impressive 48 goals in 58 appearances over the last 7 years. More importantly though is his recent form and he has been scoring goals for fun both for his country and for his team Fulham in the Premier League. He was one of the main reasons why Serbia even qualified with 8 goals scored in Qualifying. Last season he netted 43 goals in 44 games for Fulham in the Championship and this season he is already off to a great start with 6 scored in just 7 games played. If Serbia can advance to the Round of 16, Mitrović has a really solid chance to score some goals here.
